


Hey! That's My Shtick

by Reaxeon



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Jewish Character, Kinda, Mild Angst, homeless, i cant even say sorry because im not, never is the answer, still lore heavy, there will mostly be sexy tension and fluff, when will i stop being lore heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 15:54:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 36,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6616522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reaxeon/pseuds/Reaxeon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Street performance. Tricks. Sleight of hand whatever you want to call it. </p><p>She called it survival. </p><p>He called it magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, so. This is just a weird idea I got out of no where that I wanted to bang out. I will get back on the Match Maker Series once finals is over but I don't have the time and energy to try and re-write all the reference material that I lost without getting really stressed out. So this is just a bit of a nonsensical doodle in terms of writing that I'm posting here. 
> 
> Lemme know if you like it and want to see more!

“Come one, come all!” Her voice was even and loud, but not enough to be unpleasant. “Come closer, I don't bite! Come and see fantastical feats unlike anything you have seen! Aisling the Magnificent will mystify and entertain, for a small donation.”

Electronica swing music played from the portable radio that was at her feet. She winked and charmed people to come closer, dancing a bit as she tried to build up the numbers before getting to her performance. It was Sunday and that meant the streets would be full of shoppers. 

A bow and her top hat fell off, setting itself upside down on the ground at her tanned feet. A poof of russet hair stood almost on end once it was released from the hat in question. Grey eyes glittered with mischief as she smiled to the small crowd that had surrounded her on the street. 

“You see here my hat? Come closer, take a peek inside. Nothing is there, no tricks, sir would you please stick your hand in the hat to make sure I am not lying?”

A young boy grins wildly at the opportunity and sticks his arm in, before nodding up at her.

“Watch closely, you will all agree I have not touched the hat since it fell, correct?”

A murmur of agreement traveled through the slowly growing crowd.

“Watch closely now, no funny business I swear to you.” Rolling up her sleeves she turns her hands over so that all can see. “Nothing up my sleeves, but yet...”

Reaching in there was a soft flash of light and in her hand was a bouquet of flowers. Amidst the clapping and gasps of the crowd she took another bow as she tipped the flowers back inside and they vanished, before setting the hat back atop her head. 

“Miss, come closer please? Pick a card, any card you desire.” She purred as she fanned out a deck that seemed to appear out of no where. “Do not think too hard, and don't show me your card.”

The shy looking monster plucked out a card and held it close to her chest. Yes monster. They had been above ground for at least twenty years now, since Aisling had been a small girl barely out of kindergarten. She had grown up with the two races, to her it was nothing. Older generations still held reservations but there were many children now that had never known a life without monsters included. 

Shaking herself out of the thought, Aisling produced a marker from some hidden pocket and handed it to the scaly monster.

“Please write whatever you wish on the front of the card and show it to everyone, I won't peek I promise.” She declared as she covered both eyes and turned away from the monster woman.

After waiting a beat she uncovered her eyes and shuffled the deck in her hands dramatically before snapping her fingers. A gasp rose from the monster as she looked at her hands in shock. Shuffling the deck again, she fanned it out in front of the small monster child in the front and smiled.

“I think you are just as magnificent as I am. Do you think you'll be able to pull the same card? Believe in yourself.” She said in a stage whisper, winking.

The small child, who looked like a bunny, bounced up and down in excitement before reaching out and picking a card. Standing up she pointed at the woman once more. 

“Please, tell me what card it was you picked?”

“Queen of Hearts.” She said in a small voice.

“Queen of Hearts! And you drew something on the face of the card correct?”

A nod.

“Now everyone would agree that I was not near enough to take back the card when it disappeared, and even if I had been I didn't know the card picked, correct?”

A murmur wove through the crowd again.

“Show everyone the card you chose. Go on.” She encouraged the young boy who turned the card out to show everyone. 

It was the Queen of Hearts, with a small musical note drawn on it.

“Is that in fact, your card miss?”

“It is!” She exclaimed.

The crowd roared and many came up to drop a few dollars into the open suitcase that laid in the center of the ring of people.

Ruffling the boys fur a bit she took back the card and flicked it, making the drawing disappear to the amazement of the crowd.

The same song and dance for at least half an hour, as she made things disappear from people's hands and before their eyes and reappear in odd places, behind their own ears, in a neighbors pocket. Coins piled and clinked as more and more people came up and dropped in donations. Her limbs began to feel heavy by the time she decided the show had to come to an end.

With a flourish she handed the bundle of flowers from the beginning to the same small bunny child and bowed repeatedly to all those who surrounded her.

“I will be here each weekend, same time and same place! Come back and see Aisling the Magnificent again. Each performance has a brand new feat to be seen, so never fear seeing the same thing twice!” She called out repeatedly as the mass of people slowly dissipated and people went back to their day to day lives.

She packed up the money and her speakers as she was hugged by the boy. It brought a smile to her face before she quickly excused herself and made her way to a alleyway, suitcase held close to her chest. It would easily be enough to buy her food for the next couple of days and she needed to make sure it was in a safe place before she headed home. A suitcase that jingled was a sure way to get herself jumped. 

Shaking her head ruefully at the nasty thought she checked over her shoulder, making sure the coast was clear before breathing deep. Eyes closed as she concentrated a soft roar like that of the ocean filled her ears as she slashed at the air with one arm. It felt she was ripping through a thick fabric, and in a way she was. Quickly shoving the suitcase inside she made a quick zig zag motion with her hand, as if she were sewing the rip shut when the sound of clapping broke her concentration. 

She bit back a scream as she whirled around, back pressed against the wall as she looked up at the tall skeleton monster. He was much too close, how did he get that close, she had made sure that no one was nearby, how much had he seen? Looking off to the side she tried to slide away without a word, but he leaned lazily, boney arm blocking off her escape route.

“Interestin' thing I just saw.” He drawled. “Thought your performance was over but then I happen ta notice somethin' real magnificent happenin' in the alleyway.”

He was so close, she could feel the soft hum of his Soul in the air between them. She looked up at him, trying to put on a brave face but faltered slightly. His face had two long cracks, one from the top eye socket to his forehead and the other connecting the bottom of the other eye socket to the corner of his mouth, which was lifted into a small smug smirk.

“You look like you see somethin' interestin' too, doll.”

She squeaked at being caught staring and looked away from him again. “No, it's just hard to see anything other than your mug when you've got me trapped like this. Did you want an autograph?” She sassed him.

“Actually, that sounds perfect.” He didn't move and she glared up at him.

“Oh?” She asked.

“Yeah. Maybe include your number while you're at it?” He said, one yellow eye staring at her chest. 

She pushed against his chest and seemed to take him by surprise in that moment before he stumbled back, rubbing at his sternum. 

“Oi, I know you're doing one of two things when you do that, bucko. Eyes are up here. And why should I give you my number?” She demanded, huffing a bit of hair out of her eyes.

She crossed her arms over her chest, though she knew it wouldn't stop him from taking a peek if he really wanted to. A shiver ran up up her spine at his piercing look and she glared at him.

“Would it help if I said please?” He said with a grin.

“No.” She deadpanned as she turned away from him.

“Maybe I could take you out to eat first?” 

She paused to think about that for a moment. Free food was free food...but. She felt like there was something entirely too fishy about this whole thing and shook her head.

She stuck her nose into the air as she walked away from him. “Better luck next time maybe.” She didn't know why she encouraged him.

He appeared right around the corner as she rounded it and she let out a yelp as she ran into his chest. Clutching her chest with one hand she wheezed from the surprise and glared even harder at him as he had the audacity to laugh at her reaction.

“Oh man. The look on your face.” He wiped an imaginary tear from one socket and grinned down at her. 

“Listen, I don't have anything against you, hopefully you don't have anything against me, so can we just part ways and not have any trouble?” She asked, trying to hide her obvious worry.

“Hey.” She heard him mutter under his breath as he sighed. “Listen, I just. I'll leave you alone if you really want me to I don't mean no trouble it's just. You know you were doing magic right?”

“That's kind of the point bucko, I'm a street magician.” She said, a small smile on her face as she glanced at his exasperated face.

“That's not what I meant 'nd you know it.” He murmured as she twirled a bit of hair around a finger.

“Oh, and whatever did you mean Mr. Skeleton?” She asked him airily, biting her tongue so as to not laugh at his unamused look.

“I mean, you did real magic. None a that sleight of hand bullshit you were doin' real magic. And I wanna know how.” He said.

She stopped and looked around before turning to him and sighing. “Listen, I don't know what to tell you. I think you're confused. I do street magic, make some money, and go about my day not bothering people. I think you're mistaken.”

She went to walk away and leave him there but stopped dead in her tracks at his voice. 

“That place is called the Void.” 

She whirled around to ask him what he knew, but he was gone. 

Hugging her arms to herself she stood there for a moment before taking off, rushing to get as far away from that skeleton as possible. 

She didn't even see the faint yellow glow across the street that followed her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you should not do magic where people can find you Aisling, did you ever think about that?
> 
> In other news Gsans is persistent and maybe a bit too forward for his own good.

Aisling felt like she was being watched, the feeling of eyes on her back following her as she wandered all over the town. It was such a nice town, shadowed by the mountain it was named for. Ebott had become quite the tourist attraction when the monsters had first surfaced. Every summer people would flock there to see the mountain, which had been turned into a bit of a walk-through museum. She had moved here not long after turning 18. To her it was home, even if well. Even if she was 'homeless'. She hated that term. Legally she was houseless, perhaps. But this whole town was her home at this point.

Aisling came here because she knew that she would be able to attract those same crowds with her act. Monsters naturally could do magic, and it was said that humans couldn't. Not without a Bond, and it still wasn't legal for that to happen between monsters and humans. But she knew she couldn't possibly be the only one that found that she could do what others thought impossible. It made no sense that she was alone in her abilities. But then again...perhaps her father had been right...

She shook herself from her thoughts and glanced around. The feeling of being watched was still there but she couldn't see anyone. Slipping into a dead end alleyway she waiting a beat and then called out. 

“I know you've been following me! Whoever you are.” She huffed and looked around, trying to find some sort of tip off. “You better not be that skeleton!”

Only silence answered her. Frowning even harder she quickly darted behind a dumpster and cut an opening, letting herself fall inside it.

Weightlessness and a chill that sank into her skin and took hold surrounded her as she quickly sealed the cut behind her. Her suitcase was there, seeming to sit on nothingness as she stepped towards it. Piles of her meager belongings were scattered about. She wouldn't stay long, she had learned that staying in the pocket she made for her things didn't end well for her fleshy body. Counting out an appropriate amount of bills from the suitcase she went to leave. Cutting an exit again she didn't even see the hand that grabbed her wrist until it was too late and she was bodily yanked out of her room. 

Gasping and letting out a short scream that was cut off by rough fingers over her lips she looked up at her captor. 

“You again!” She grunted as she wriggled her body away from him. “Who do you think you are?”

“A skeleton.” 

She narrowed her eyes at him and rubbed at her wrist. That yank was going to cause a bracelet of a bruise. 

“Haha, you're just so funny.” She deadpanned, keeping an eye on him as she tried to scoot away. 

If she could just cut another hole she could possibly pop out far enough away he wouldn't be able to follow her...

His one eye looked down at her hand as her fingers twitched. “Don't even think about it. You aren't the only one that knows the Void.” 

She gawked at him and looked away, blushing heavily at the fact she'd been caught in her escape plan. “Just. What do you want? Seriously. I'm not doing anything other than making a living.” 

“You're doin' magic. In front of crowds. Seems more like you're askin' for trouble than anythin' else.” He said, arms crossed.

She bit her tongue to keep from saying anything smart to him. Only now did she take in his full appearance. His hands had holes through the palms, it made her shiver looking at them. The edges of it looked ragged, as if it was a wound that had scarred over. He had on a turtleneck sweater and over that a leather jacket. He looked both dangerous and studious all at once and it was odd. She felt she should trust him, and at the same time that she shouldn't. 

He's dangerous  
He's safe  
He's wrong  
He's right

She winced and put a hand to her head to try and calm the headache that hit her. 

“Hey, you alright there doll?” He was suddenly there, too close but she didn't have it in her to be surprised.

The pain in her head felt like a vice and she only shook her head minutely as he tried to take her hands away from her head. 

“Hey, lemme do somethin'. It'll help ya out.” He murmured as he laid his hands on her head. 

She tensed up and was about to slap his hands away when she felt a warmth spread from his fingertips, almost like he had poured a thick slime over her. It felt like it dripped and soaked itself into her hair, and then faded, along with the sudden headache. 

“What did you do?” She asked him curiously.

“Ah...Just. Some healing magic. Nothin' special.” He muttered, rubbing at the inside of one of his palm holes as if it was sore. 

“...Thanks, um. I don't know your name.” She said at the sudden realization.

“Sans. Sans the skeleton.” He said with a smirk, hands in his pockets.

“Okay. Well, Sans the skeleton. I'm Aisling.”

“The magnificent.” He quipped.

“...Yes.” She said after a beat, trying to tell if he was making fun of her or not.”Anyways I get the feeling you aren't going to leave me alone until your curiosity is sated, so is that offer for food still up or?” She trailed off.

He shrugged, grin still in place. “Sure. I'll lead the way.” 

She blinked as he brushed past her and followed, not sure of what she just got herself into as a shiver ran up her back.

“So...” She started, glancing up at him.

“So?” He mimicked, returning her glance.

He looked away from her and looked like he was lost in thought before rolling his head in her direction. “How 'bout we get take away and we'll discuss this while in private, yeah?”

“Okay.” Wait what, why did she just agree to that? 

“Cool.”

He steered her into what looked like a bar, one arm thrown over her shoulder. She tensed again and was about to shove his arm off of her when she noticed the looks from the bars patrons. It was a pretty even mix of humans and monsters, but she couldn't help to notice that most of them didn't look super friendly. This bar was...seedy wasn't quite right but she couldn't think of a word that properly fit it. 

She did however shrink into Sans's side, any protest against the possessive feeling arm slung around her dying in her throat.

“Hey Grillbz, two takeout bags a the usual.”

The flame monster behind the bar, Grillbz apparently, nodded and disappeared into the back. Sans just leaned his back against the bar as they waited, surveying the room. A red headed waiter wove around the tables, and all the patrons seemed to have gone back to their own business as Sans locked sockets with a few that had lingering glances. 

Aisling just decided that looking at her own hands was better than accidentally having a stare down with anyone else, and kept quiet. This was not her kind of scene at all. It made her feel weak, made her feel like she was tipping a chair too far back on two legs and that at any moment it would crash to the ground. She only jumped a little when the sound of two hefty paper bags flopped onto the counter. 

“Thanks Grillbz, put it on my tab.” Sans said as he grabbed both with one hand and steered her out back onto the street once more. 

His arm didn't drop when they got outside though, and she tried to duck out from under it. Instead, his hold tightened. 

“Ah ah. Hold on a sec' will ya? I said a private place, just lemme get ya there first.” He said as he wrapped his other arm around her. “Hold on tight unless ya wanna get stuck out some place that's not like yer lil' pocket from earlier.” 

She didn't get a word out before the world around her tilted and she felt herself free falling. It was like the drop of a roller coaster and she let out a loud yelp as she clung to Sans's torso, eyes watering from the feeling of air rushing past them. All too suddenly it stopped and the world whirled as she continued to cling to him, legs wobbling like jello.

“Jeez. Did I go too fast? Hey, doll, you listenin'? He asked, trying to lean back to get a better look at her face. 

She blushed deeply and pushed him away, shaking hands brushing off imaginary dirt from her pants. “O-of course I'm fine! You just took me by surprise is all. And stop calling me doll, I'm not a toy.” 

“Alright, sweetheart.”

Her body was still shaking but he wasn't going to push the issue further with her. Instead he stuck one hand in his jean pocket and walked to the kitchen to drop the bags on the table. 

“Th-that's not what I meant!” She shouted after him.

She took her time, looking around the house. It was simple, cream walls, grey carpet, grey tile in the kitchen, more cream walls. Something about it just felt...so vague. Like it should have more to it but didn't. There was a sleek television mounted on the wall across from a chocolate colored couch, and the kitchen itself had black granite and stainless steal appliances. Everything was just to clean. Immaculate honestly. She glanced down at her shoddy sneakers, the dirt that covered the sides and the permanently knotted strings from being in the rain and drying repeatedly. 

She didn't belong here. 

Curling in on herself she sat at the table and watched him flop into the chair across from her, rummaging around in his bag until he brought out a huge pile of fries and … a medium sized bottle of barbecue sauce? He looked at her and his smirk grew as he flicked open the top and took a swig from it. 

She could only stare in confusion and mild horror as he guzzled down almost half of the bottle before tipping the mouth of the bottle towards her. 

“Want some?” A glint in his one glowing socket. 

“I'm good.” She said, finally reaching for her own bag and nibbling at the fries. 

Trying to pace herself so that she wouldn't eat everything, bag included. They were hot and crispy, and utterly delicious. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment wholeheartedly before her attention snapped back to the monster across from her. 

He was smirking as he watched her revel in the fries.

Cursing herself she sank down in the chair as far as was comfortable and avoided his gaze. The jerk had the gall to chuckle at her. 

“So. Aisling, I said that right?” She nodded. “Lemme cut to the chase. I saw you do magic. Honest real magic. Ya can't deny it. You cut into the Void like it was nothin' and even hid out in one for over an hour.” 

She rubbed at her face and chanced a quick glance at him. His grin was gone. He looked thoughtful. 

“How long have ya been able ta do that?” He asked quietly.

“...Since I could remember?” She said, seeing no point in lying. 

He knew what she did, he saw it. There was no wiggling her way out of this.

“How old are ya anyways?” He leaned on the table, hands resting under his jaw.

“Twenty four.” She said, watching him. “This feels rather one sided. How about a game?”

“I'm listenin'.”

“Tit for tat. You ask a question, I answer. I ask you a question, you answer. You get to skip three questions and after that you /have/ to answer whatever is asked.”

He mulled it over before shrugging and nodding. “Sure. Seems fair enough.”

“Okay, then I get to ask two questions to catch up.” She grinned triumphantly as he sighed. 

“Sure, sure.” He grinned back at her, despite the hassled tone.

She propped her head up, elbow on the table. “How old are you?”

“Pass.”

“Seriously? Out of all the questions you're going to pass that one?” She asked, munching on a fry.

“You said I could do it three times.”

“Fine...Why do you care so much that I can do magic?” She finally asked.

“'Cause. I only ever knew one other human that could do any kinda magic. By all rights you shouldn't be able to.” 

“Why not though?” 

“Ah ah, my turn. Them's the rules.” He said with a grin.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“You ever seen your Soul?” He asked, eye dipping down to glance at her chest. 

“Hey! Again, eyes are closer to skyward, you dingbat.” She placed the paper bag in front of her chest, useless to actually stop him but it made her feel better. “And for your information yes, I have.”

“What's it's color?”

“Hey, my turn now.” She glared at him over the bag. “Why 'by all rights' shouldn't I be able to use magic?”

“Because. Humans are too disconnected from their Souls. Too physical. Yer made of fleshy bits and shit and usually don't even know that ya got a Soul, let alone use it proper.” He said gruffly, staring daggers at the bag as if it had personally offended him. 

“Yeah well, I've always believed I had a Soul. Monsters and everything about them have been around since I could remember. Maybe growing up with monsters being normal did something?”

“Maybe. But then that doesn't explain why there aren't more of ya around yer age doing stunts like you pulled today.” He rubbed at his jaw, as in deep in thought before shrugging. “I got a pretty good guess, but what's the color?”

“Pass.” She said hautely, munching on more fries.

“Ya know I could always pull it out myself to check.” He stated, one brow bone rising in challenge. 

“Brother! Why did you not inform me that we would be having a guest today?” A new voice rang out and Aisling's head whipped around to see who it belonged to. 

The skeleton monster was massively tall, having to duck down to step into the kitchen before resuming his full height. His well tailored suit jacket had what looked like padded shoulders, but it suited him somehow. His face was thinner and longer than Sans, but it had the same cracks marring it. She wondered idly for a moment why that was before shaking it away. 

“Wasn't planned Pap, kinda just happened. Ya know how it goes.” Sans drawled, kicking his feet up on the surface of the table. 

“Feet do not belong on the table Sans.” He turned to Aisling and offered a hand. Same hole in the palm as Sans, too.”My apologies for my brother's rudeness. I am Papyrus, a pleasure to meet you.” He pressed his teeth to the back of her hand gently.

She tittered softly and felt herself blush harder as she held her hand to her chest. “I'm Aisling.” She managed to force out, voice not quite as level as she could hope it to be.

“Aisling, a beautiful name.” Reaching over Papyrus shoved Sans's feet off the table stop and tilted his head to the side. “I would offer to make you dinner but it seems Sans has already ruined that with his grease trap take out. Are you staying long?” 

She glanced over at Sans, who just watched her coolly from his seat. “I-I don't want to impose...” 

“No problem. She'll be over for a while, figured that wouldn't bother ya much Paps.” 

“Of course not, I would have rather had some warning, though.” He smiled at his brother. “Despite the greasy...food you brought along, it is good to see you interacting with someone other than myself.”

A faint yellow tint shone from Sans's cheek bones as he abruptly stood up, tossing the empty takeout bag into the garbage. “Come on.” 

He tugged on her wrist, and whisked her up the stairs, not seeming to notice her breath hitch at the grip on her bruise. He guided her into a room and shut the door behind him with a kick, avoiding her questioning eyes as he wandered to a desk and sat heavily into the desk chair in front of it. 

“So...This your room?” She asked, before scowling as she realized she had used up a question. 

“Yup. Make yourself at home.” He said, rolling his head around, to continue avoiding her eyes. 

It was...much more lived in looking than the other parts of the house she had so far seen. The bed was unmade, blankets piled up in a mound and one pillow on the floor. The desk had papers all over it's surface, and a laptop sat on top of it all. There was a pile of what looked like socks shoved to the corner of the room beside a dresser. Beyond that there were some photos sat in frames on the walls, of Sans and Papyrus as well as a group of other monsters, and one human. There was one other chair, a lazy boy nestled in the corner, half hiding the sock pile behind it. 

She sat down on that and let out a startled noise as the foot rest kicked itself up and swept her backwards. 

She only scowled harder as she heard Sans laugh at her. Pushing her mass of hair out of her face, her breath caught in her throat. He was looming over her, one iris staring into her's as she laid there. Again she felt herself have those conflicting thoughts and emotions. 

Safe. Not safe. Dangerous. Not dangerous. Right. Wrong. Right. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Right.

She closed her eyes, breaking their little staring match as she rubbed at her temples. 

She didn't tense this time as she felt him lay a hand on her head and let herself relax as that same strange gooey sensation trailed over her skull. Her eyes fluttered open to stare at him, curiously once more piqued. 

“What is that?”

“I already told ya, healin' magic. I'll be nice and not count that one 'gainst ya.” Ah yes, the smirk is back in full force. 

She shook her head and struggled to sit up. It was all in vain, the lazy boy was not giving in to her demands. She flopped back down and sighed before looking up at him, face ablaze again. She was going to pass out if this outrageous blushing didn't cut it out. 

“Could you help me out instead of just standing there looking smug?”

“I dunno sweetheart, I'm real good at standing around lookin' smug. A specialty of mine.” He laughed as she glared at him.”Alright, I suppose I could help ya out.” 

She squeaked as he waved a hand and a glow of yellow surrounded her body. She was floating up in the air and turning, speechless as she was gently set down on her feet. As soon as the magic haze disappeared, she gaped up at him. He continued to look smug. 

“Wha-How? I've never seen anything like that before.” She managed to choke out in her surprise.

He wiggled his fingers at her. “Magic~”

“Yes I figured as much you smug bastard.” She growled at him.

She glanced around, weighing her options of sitting in his desk chair, standing the whole time she would be here which she still didn't know the actual duration of this visit, or sitting on his bed...

He was a monster, and further so he was a literal skeleton. Probably safe? She shook her head and sat on the edge of his bed, arms crossed as she tried to stare him down. It didn't do much.

“Alright. Back to business.” He walked towards his desk and pushed the chair aside, grabbing the laptop before swinging around and crashing down onto his bed next to her, close enough for his thigh to be pressed against hers. 

Okay maybe, probably safe was a bit of a stretch. Trying to not show her nervousness she watching him bring up a few graphs and charts. Pointing at one of them, a color wheel sort of setup he tapped the screen. 

“Different colors let people do different magic. Most monsters can do at least two types of magic. Magic that is the same color as their Soul, and the complementary color.” He pointed at his eye socket. “Yellow, so not to brag but I've got a good handle on Yellow magic and Purple magic.”

She nodded, eyebrows furrowed in thought as she leaned into him to get a better look at the graph. She was his exact opposite then. She wasn't about to tell him that though. 

“Now, I've only ever known one human to have any magic and they could only do one color with any level of control. They had access to their complementary magic but only out of instinct it seemed.” He paused and looked at her out of the corner of his socket. “So I want to know the color because it will help me figure out what exactly yer capable of.”

“...What if I don't want to?” She murmured, looking away from him, hands over her chest.

The last time it had been out...She shivered and curled in on herself a bit.

“Hey, 'm not gunna hurt ya, okay?” He said softly, noticing her posture change.

“Yeah well, maybe I don't feel like I know you enough to be comfortable with that, what about that?” she barked, getting up from the bed and stalking across the room, back to him.

She heard him sigh. The soft swishing of shoes over carpet as he came up behind her. 

“Well then, maybe we should get to know each other, yeah?” He murmured to her. 

She didn't know why that sent a thrill through her body.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can't stop writing, I'm like butter cuz I'm on a roll~ *Ba dum tiss*

Laughing nervously she backed away from him and twirling hair around a finger. “Maybe. But I ah, I should be getting home now so...I'll just...Go then.” She muttered, inching towards the door. 

“I could bring ya home. It's a bit late for ya to be wanderin' the streets on yer own.” He offered.

She panicked a bit, she couldn't let him find out where she stayed. “No! No, it's fine. I'm a big girl.”

He just raised a brow bone at her and shrugged. “Alright, alright.”

She smiled in relief despite herself and nodded before opening the door. He didn't stop her as she went down the stairs, only standing at the top of them watching as she bid Papyrus a polite farewell and left, front door clicking behind her. 

Something about her made him feel more energized than ever. He looked forward to seeing her again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, she was panicking. She knew he had followed her earlier and she wasn't so sure he wouldn't follow her again. She didn't want him to find her home base. He might not take well to her current choice of dwelling considering where it was... 

Temple was technically always open to her but it felt wrong to hide in it. It was a sacred place and she dismissed that thought immediately. No, she could either go to the town library, or she could go to her normal hideout. She didn't feel that sense of being watched and mulled it over for a moment before deciding to just head back. It was a warm summer night, no rain in sight. She shouldn't run into any trouble.

"Doesn't mean I won't though..." She muttered to herself as she walked, shoulders hunched up high as she sped along.

The park wasn't far, and no one was around to bother her as she walked down the faint trail that lead closer to the base of the mountain. Before monsters had surfaced, this trail had been known as the Suicide Path. Once it was found out that it lead to the an entrance to the Underground everything made a lot more sense to humans, but it never really lost it's nickname. 

Instead new rumors started up that you'd get lost in the Underground ruins if you went down it. Which on one hand could be true, if you didn't know what you were doing. The walk-through museum only went as far as the Core, starting at the New Home settlement. The rest of the Underground was cut off from prying eyes and monsters had all long since left behind that part of their past. 

So really it was no harm that she was squatting in one of the houses left behind.

She double checked her ties of the rope ladder and threw it down, carefully descending down it. She was much too exhausted to try and walk down one of her Pathways. She shuddered at the memory of Sans's version of it. It felt more like a hole one fell through than her own. She was more of the mind of calmly walking down a hallway until she was where she needed to be, rather than hurtling through thin air and dropping into place. It was so...wild. He was a bit wild...Was that a racist thing to think? She scowled as she thought about why she felt he was wild and came to the conclusion that his actions supported her claim. 

He was the one who had bruised her up, dropped her through what felt like a wormhole, and was a bit too forward when it came to trying to get a glimpse of her Soul. Maybe rude was a better word than wild...

She made her way around all of the dusty and overgrown traps long since deactivated. Standing near a pillar for a moment she let her eyes adjust to the deep darkness of it all. There was a soft luminescent tint to the rocks in the floor and walls, but only just enough to let her not trip over herself. The boards she had laid over all of the sink holes creaked as she made her way further into the cave. 

She wondered, not for the first time, what it must have been like to live down here, with no way out. She had the privilege to come and go as she wished, it was as simple as climbing out. But for the monsters that had lived down here...She shook herself out of her dark thoughts and smiled at the sight of the first house. She had thought maybe it would be easiest to stay here, when she had first explored the cavern. But something....something felt like it was watching her whenever she had stayed too long in the home. The collection of children s shoes and dusty forlorn looking potted water sausage plants, as well as the creepy feeling was more enough to get her to move on from it. She could almost swear that she had seen something move from the corner of her eyes but every time she looked nothing was there.

Still, something about it seemed so homey if you were only there for a short while. 

As she walked down the seemingly never ending hall way in the basement she hummed a soft tune. The notes bounced off of the rock walls, echoing along to the beat of her footsteps. She grinned as the notes reverberated and filled the damp air. The chilly air rushed over her as she came upon the open doors. The first time she had came through and been met with snow, well to say she had been confused would be an understatement. 

She had since gone on at least one official Underground tour and found out about how the Core powered everything down here, and how it regulated fake weather, as well as a daytime and nighttime schedule. It was all automated, and a cooling system had been implemented almost immediately after the monsters had access to surface technology, so the Core now ran indefinitely by itself. Completely automated. For whatever reason it didn't reach all the way to the Ruins area, but as soon as she stepped outside those doors she could see just a bit better. It was still dark, seeing as the nighttime cycle was synced to the surface and it was, shit it was almost ten. 

Shrugging she kept on going, not even thinking much of the goosebumps that were all over her arms as she trudged on through the snow. It wasn't an overly long walk, until she came to the bridge. At first she had been terrified of crossing the bridge, it was so old and it swung a bit under her feet, but after squatting in the same house for three years her fears settled. She didn't hesitate a single moment crossing it, the boards protesting her weight as she walked. Finally she came up to where she wanted to be.

Snowdin. Her home, if she was feeling sentimental. She loved Ebott, but being surrounded by tourists all the time made her feel like she was alone even in the center of a crowd. At least while she was here she really was alone. It was a ghost town, sort of. She lived here, in a house at the very edge of the town. Snow had long since covered and blocked off doorways to things, like the Inn and what looked like a pub. The "LIBRARBY” which was empty now. That was only because she had gotten it into her head that she had to see what the books inside said. It had been an entire day of chipping away at the solid ice and digging until she had gotten it unearthed. All of the books had long since been transferred back to her house.

She had chosen the house she did because it looked like it was in the best shape. When she had peered into the windows all those years ago the inside was almost completely barren and the snow wasn't piled too high in front of the door, courtesy of the porch that protected it to some extent. It was just easiest at the time. She had even tried to check out the mailboxes nearby, but any writing on them had long since been worn by the time she came around. The mail that had been overflowing from one of them had been so wet and cracked in her hands that she had just left them, not bothering to try and salvage them for snooping purposes. 

Pushing the door open easily she closed it, and the cold out, behind her and smiled. The old couch was ratty, yes, but she had taken to trying and patch it up with random scraps of clothing. The last tenants had left a lot of clothing, mostly red fabric and bone covered patterns. So the couch reflected their odd taste, but at least it meant the stuffing stayed where it should. For whatever reason the kitchen had been full of utensils, and only boxes upon boxes of unopened pasta boxes when she had first arrived. Now though, at least she had food that she bought when she could afford it. 

The fridge and lights of the house still worked, and she didn't feel the need to question the fact that there seemed to be a furnace that ran, as well as the water. She was just happy to have found such a find. It was home, and she supposed she wasn't really house-less when it came down to what mattered. Regardless, according to legality of the surface world she wasn't paying any taxes and therefore was considered homeless and unemployed. She wasn't going to correct them. She had no mailing address, and no real paperwork. No phone, other than an old clunky thing she had found while exploring Hotland. She couldn't figure out how to get it to do anything beyond connect to what was called the UnderNet and play music. It didn't even have an alarm built in, though it did show the time and have what seemed like a very low bit camera. It remained ignored.

She had made an account and quickly realized that no one used it. It was interesting none the less to go through all of the two decade old accounts that persisted long after monsters had abandoned it. And besides that, there was a lot of music posted on there by a Nabstablook22 and it hadn't taken her long to figure out how to download it to the phone and listen. It was one of her favorite things to do while cleaning or trying to fix up her home. 

Setting the phone on speaker and pressing play on one of the songs she tucked it into her bra and looked around before sighing. It was late, she was tired. Might as well get to bed. The stairs were surprisingly quiet as she made her way up them and she brushed her teeth quickly. Shower could wait until morning. 

She rubbed at her eyes as she made her way to the last room. For whatever reason there was a dusty treadmill in the center, but she had never used it for its intended purpose. Instead the books she had pilfered from the “LIBRARBY” were stacked on it precariously. Cards and boxes upon boxes of non-perishable and canned goods were shoved along one wall. There had once been a sock pile, but she had long since torn and cut them up to stuff inside of a lumpy pillow case. It wasn't half bad really. There had only been some sheets left behind, but that didn't matter much, with the sheer number of blue fuzzy hoodies she had found. All but one had been cut up and sewn together into a warm quilt. The lone survivor was for wearing when it got colder. 

Flopping down onto the bed face first she kicked off her shoes lazily and turned the volume of her phone down low enough that it was just pleasant white noise. That was the only thing she didn't like much about living down here. It was so silent. When she had first fallen down she hadn't had any idea how to get out. She had ran everywhere, calling out repeatedly to see if someone would find her and help her get back to the surface. Screaming until she had lost her voice and curled in on herself in a panic. Desperately hoping that someone, anyone would come lead her out.

But nobody came.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What am I doing with my life??? I do not know. Have more G!Sans being a dick

Aisling had never thought much about the fact she could do magic. Sure she knew it wasn't really a thing that most could do, and by no means did she try and attract attention to that detail, but well... It was something that as far as she could tell, she had been born with. She could not remember any time in her life where she couldn't grab a hold of reality and tug at it. When she couldn't slice through it like fabric with that roaring of ocean waves in her head as she stepped through down the dark and darker pathways she made. It was second nature to her, it was like blinking, or breathing. Sure she was hyper aware of it sometimes but for the most part it was just another part of her.

It was a gift, and honestly, she saw no problem in using it. 

After showering and deciding that today would likely be a relaxation day, she threw on some jeans and a over sized t-shirt. Monday's weren't great for business, people were always in the worst of moods and trying to get to work or school, so she didn't bother to try and perform then. Monday's, Fridays after night fall and all Saturday's were her days of chilling out. Though she did spend Friday night at Temple, but that was still considered rest, technically.

Shrugging she felt around for the edges of the doorway she always opened in her room and stepped through, sealing it behind her. A feeling of weightlessness and calm washed over her as she slowly walked forward. It had taken her a long time experimenting to figure out how to use her doorways properly. At first she couldn't close the holes and they would sit open, slowly shrinking until, like a scab, they closed on their own. She had only thought to try 'sewing' them up after pricking herself while fixing a pair of pants.

She had to know where she was going too. It was like a hallway. There was no distinct end or beginning, but on either side of her there were weaknesses in the fabric of reality where she had cut a doorway before. She took to memorizing what doorway lead to where based off of her entrance point. 

She tried hard not to look too deep into the darkness as she walked towards her destination, counting in her head silently each one until she came upon the 13th from the 'home' portal that would dump her at the entrance of the Underground. Eyes on the prize of getting to the other side. If she let herself get distracted she would get lost and getting lost was the worst possible thing she could imagine happening while in the “Void”. 

It had a name now, where as before she had just thought of it as the darkness, and now...Once you give something a name it changed a bit. Became itself instead of just something. 

“Okay that's enough of that.” She said to herself, the sound swallowed almost immediately by the Void. 

The words echoed in her head until she stepped through the slice. The scent of buttercups and daisies filled her nose as she closed the hole behind her. 

Slowly coiling the rope ladder back up and hiding it in a rocky crevice she squinted, looking up at the sky. She had slept in longer than she had thought, it was at least noon.

“I guess I could go to a cafe?” She murmured to herself, setting off down the trail.

There were a few people in the park, sitting on benches or just strolling around. A few joggers. Everyone looked like they had their life together. Like those skeleton brothers. Their house, it was nice. They had to have a good chunk of cash stashed away to live like that. 

“I wonder what Sans does for a living...” She said to herself, getting a few odd looks from others nearby.

It was a warm day, so much so that the side walk pavement's heat could be felt through her thin soled shoes. She looked like she was in a rush as she made her way towards Muffet's Corner Cafe. Luckily she had never had much fear of spiders. Would be hard to have such a calm friendship with Muffet otherwise.

“Hello dearie! It's been almost a week, where have you been?” Came the silky voice from behind the counter.

Aisling smiled at Muffet and set down a handful of bills that were quickly snatched up. 

“Oh you know how it is Muffet. A little bit of here, a little bit of there. How's Arachne doing?”

A soft laugh escaped the matronly spider woman's lips. “Being a handful as always. Seraphine swears that she lit her homework on fire the other night.”

“No! Not Arachne. Never.” She gasped in mock surprise as she took the baggie of garlic knots from Muffet. 

“Yes~. Seraphine has been beside herself with both pride and shame. We had her apologize to her teacher and stay after to make up the work.” She tapped the counter top with three sets of fingers drumming. “I think it's time I sent her to train at the Academy as well. She's at that age now, after all.” 

The Academy, the monster only school that specialized in magic training. Aisling smiled somewhat wistfully at the idea of being able to be properly trained, but again. Human. 

“That's great. Anyways I hate to cut this short but I've got a few errands to run. Say hello to Sera for me!” She waved goodbye and was out the door.

She frowned slightly as she her mind wander to what had happened yesterday. It was weird how calm she felt about someone knowing her best kept secret after all these years. Popping a knot into her mouth she chewed as she walked, eyes trained on her feet as she went. She had never known anything beyond what she could do naturally. Which was apparently 'purple' magic. Made sense with what Sans had told her, about magic corresponding to Soul color. The fact that she could potentially do more than just what she already knew made her antsy. She couldn't just not try and explore possibilities. Her magic was her own and if her Soul offered more that she had known previously, then it was her right to know more.

The Academy wouldn't let her close to the grounds, that much was certain. It was a safe haven and filled to the brim with monster children. An adult human would be found and thrown out faster than a blink of an eye. No, as of this moment her only real lead was Sans...

She smiled besides herself as she ate another garlic knot, thinking about her strange encounter. 

He was. There was just. Gah. 

She rubbed at her face and sighed. He was fascinating and she couldn't deny that. Something about his attitude and the fact that he had information she wanted. She would just have to not fall for his charms, regardless of how smooth he was. Pulling at a strand of curly hair she rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.

“As if he would be interested.” She scowled and shoved another knot in her mouth. 

She shouldn't even let herself go down that strain of thought. Nope. No. Not happening. No jumping in head first to something like that. Not again. Cautiousness was needed in such affairs and if she was still feeling that thrill by the end of a month? Well she would think about it then. For now the only draw she would admit to is the need for information about her own abilities. She just had to be smart about trying to squeeze the answers out of him. Thankfully she had a plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forever thankful and maybe just a bit smug about her ability to find her way to wherever she wanted even if she had only been there once, she fidgeted a bit on the doorstep. This house...The outside, it looked. Familiar. Familiar not in the sense that she had been here before, but in the sense that she felt like she had seen it before somewhere else. Like going to a friends house and realizing it looked like a family members home in a totally different town. 

“I mean, lots of houses are built off of identical blueprints...That's probably it, I've just seen the same model somewhere else is all...Stop freaking out just knock.” She muttered as she lifted her fist to knock on the door. 

It swung open before her hand could even hit wood. Instead, seeing as she was too late to stop her momentum, she rapped her knuckles on Sans's sternum. She froze in place, fist still resting on his, bare she just realized, chest before she squeaked and snatched her hand back, blushing deeply and looking away. 

“I think I ought ta just start callin' ya Mouse.” He said, leaning up on the door frame without a care in the world that he was shirtless. “I swear ya sound just like one.”

“I'd rather you not.” She managed to mutter before looking up at him. “Do you have a habit of answering the door half naked?” 

He shrugged and smirked down at her still red face. “Nah, ya caught me right after a shower. Shame, if ya had shown up a few minutes earlier I'd a been pantless, too.”

“That's it I'm leaving.” She said, spinning around to leave. 

She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Oh come on, I was jokin'. Swear I'm not tryin' to drive ya off.” She crossed her arms and glared at him until he dropped his hand and stepped back from the doorway. “Ya came here for somethin' I assume. As flattered as I'd be I don't think you came back for my company.”

She sighed and nodded before stepping inside. “I...Want to know more about magic.”

“Same rules as last time?” He asked as he lead her up to his room once more. The door that she assumed was to Papyrus's room was shut and dark. “Pap's at a friends place right now.” He answered her unspoken question.

“Yeah, same rules as before. Still the same amount of passes though, so you can only do it two more times.”

She immediately sat herself on the end of the bed and looked at him expectantly. She didn't miss the slight yellow tint, but decided to not point it out for both their sakes. Grabbing the laptop he sat down next to her, a space between them that hadn't been there last time. Aisling wasn't sure why she felt a pang of disappointment.

“Alright, so complementary magic. As I told ya before, I've got yellow, and so I can tap into yellow and purple magic.”

“What does it mean, the different colors?” She interrupted.

He stared at her before shaking his head, an amused smirk on his face. “I forget that you've got no background information at all.”

He clicked around and brought up a simple chart that looked like a rainbow. Tapping the yellow rectangle he looked over at her as he spoke. 

“Yellow, said to be the color a Justice. Why Justice, I don't know, that's just the association monsters got with Souls a that color.” He rubbed a hand on his sternum for a moment before continuing. “The best way I can explain how the magic works is that it's all about a concentration of pure energy. Magical energy.” 

Sighing he clicked around until a video popped up on screen. “This is an example of that. A beam of pure magical energy.” 

A sound like a whirling machine charging up didn't prepare her for the loud laser like sound that rang out from the laptop speakers as she watched a beam of blindingly bright light pour from the maw of what looked like a cow skull.

“What the hell is that thing?” She asked, looking up at him for a moment in awe.

“Hey, my turn, then I'll answer.” He grinned at her sudden scowl. “What are you doing Friday?”

She cocked an eyebrow at him and stared as if trying to puzzle out his reasons behind that before answering honestly. “I'll be doing nothing until a bit before nightfall and then I'll be at Temple.”

“Temple?” He asked, head cocked curiously to the side.

“First, what's that thing, then I'll answer.”

“I call 'em Gaster Blasters. Temple?” He prompted.

“That's a lackluster answer and you know it. But fine. Temple, Shul, Synagogue?” She listed off the names but his look continued to be blank. “Okay maybe it was a bit much to hope you'd know what I was talking about on that one. I'm Jewish, it's a place of worship.”

“I'd don't really know what that means, Jewish. I'm assuming it's a type of religion.” 

“No kidding, how did you manage to figure that out?” She snarked at him. “Also it's not just a religion, but if we start trading information about Judaism we might be here for a while.

“Context clues.” He grinned at her. “And I don't mind taking the time to know so I understand.”

“Oh. Well I mean. Sure I guess?” She wasn't used to anyone having honest questions about that kinda stuff without bringing in their already formed opinions. “But I still want to know more about the magic, so don't think you're getting off scot-free.”

“Wouldn't dream a it. It's your turn to ask by the way sweetheart.”

She sent him a playful glare at the nickname and shook her head.”Okay, so is that the only thing yellow magic does?”

“Nope. That's just the offensive version of it. You can also do defensive stuff, like coating someone with a kind a layer of pure magic.” He explained, pulling up a picture of someone surrounded by a golden colored haze. “What do you do at this Temple?”

“Well. On Friday night everybody shows up and there's singing and a sort of meet and greet time. Then candles are lit and we go through a lot of prayers and read from the Torah. After Aleinu there's food and drink and everyone kind of just socializes for a bit before heading home.” She summarized as well as she could, ticking the steps off with her fingers.

“Okay that left me with more questions but answers, but I've got a suspicion ya did that on purpose.” He stated bluntly.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. The world may never know.” She said with a grin, leaning towards him to point gesture at the screen. “So what do the other colors do?”

“Red is the color a Determination. Not a lot of monsters got that color, and green Souled monsters often have difficulty tryin' to learn it 'cuz there aren't any experts in it to teach it. As far as any research has gone it's got something to do with time. Orange is the color a Bravery, and it's bit more common. Kinetic energy and control over movement is basically what it comes down to. You already know about yellow, and green is the color a Kindness. Green is almost all healin' based, I know there is more to it but it's not really my area of expertise. Blue is the color a Integrity, and is gravity magic. Ya know, pick things up, put em down. Technically one could make themselves or others fly, by changin' the effect of gravity on them. Purple is the color a Perseverance. It's not well documented 'cuz it's almost as rare as red is. The average known abilities have to do with bein' able to do what most call Karmic Retribution. If someone's got a high Lv. then purple attacks, which look a lot like darker versions of yellow magic attacks, hit harder. Hurt more.”

“Love?” She butted in, confused.

“Shit, you humans really don't know nothin' about any a this do ya?” He rubbed his hands over his face and peered at her after a moment. “So what night are you not at this Temple place?”

She huffed at him. “Monday through Thursday, and Sunday I guess. Answer the question.”

“Cool. And no, not love, Lv. Similar sounding but Lv. means 'Level of Violence'. It's a way to measure the capability of someone to inflict pain on others.” He explained, one boney fingertip tapping on his pant leg. 

He looked nervous. 

“How do you find out someone's Lv.?”

“Do you like spaghetti?”

“...Yeah? Sure I guess.”

“Good, good. Anyway you can see someone's Lv. by Peering. Which is this thing where you look, and I mean like, really look at someones Soul. Can see all sorts a shit about a person when you do that.” He explained.

“Is that why you want to see mine so much? To make sure I don't have a high level or something along with my magic?” She questioned suddenly.

“Pass?” He muttered, looking away from her.

Ouch.

She let the topic drop and they sat there in silence for a moment.

He broke the stretch of quiet. “Would you like to come for dinner on Wednesday?”

She thought it over and shrugged. Why not. She had nothing to lose and she would be lying if she didn't want a reason to come back beyond her curiosity. “Sure.”

He grinned and nodded before turning back to the laptop and tapping away, bringing up a larger more detailed graph of purple magic. “Purple magic isn't only that though. It's exceedingly rare to have the abilities we have, to be able to interact with the Void directly.” 

“Why?” She asked.

“Why what?” He said.

“Why's it so rare?” She clarified.

“Well ya see...There was only one documented case of someone ever showing that kinda power.” He scratches at the back of his head with a tense grin. “I know why I can. My situation is a bit complicated. I've got no idea why you can. You kinda put a kink in my assumption that it was a fluke in my case.”

“Oh.” She frowned as she thought about what he said. 

She was thinking so hard she didn't even realize how far she was leaning on him until she felt bare bones pressed up against her side. 

“Hey watch it sweetheart, gettin' all up close an' personal with a guy like that. Sends some signals you might not be tryin' ta, if you catch my drift.” He said, that yellow haze on his cheeks again. 

Sitting up straight she looked away, hiding her own blush. “S-sorry.” 

“No worry, I didn't mind.” He said with a smirk.”So. When's your next show?”

She shrugged and pulled at a strand of hair. “Probably tomorrow, same street corner as my last one. Why? You plan on heckling me?” 

“Now that's an idea.” He laughed at her scowl. “Nah, I was just plannin' on watchin'. No hecklin'.”

“You better not. Otherwise I'll use you for a vanishing act.” She muttered darkly.

“Oh that sounded almost like a threat there, sweetheart.” He said, getting up and setting the laptop on the desk. 

“Not a threat.” She said lightly before shooting him a grin. “More like a promise.”

The giggle died in her throat when he turned to look at her. The best way she could describe the gaze was like that of a predator that had caught sight of its prey. She gulped and scooted a bit further back on the bed, which she realized half a second too late was not exactly the best way to escape. He stalked towards her and pressed his thighs up against the bed, one arm on either side of her as he leaned in. 

“Is that so?” He murmured, so close she could feel that thrumming in the air between their chests. ”Careful sweetheart, I take promises pretty seriously.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eeeeeeeeey I'm alive, barely.
> 
> I posted in MMaM today and this is my second post for the weekend, no more posts until next weekend, sorry to say.
> 
> Hope ya'll enjoy this one. I had fun writing it.

A slamming door downstairs broke the tense moment as he winked at her and then disappeared into thin air. The air crackled static where he had been and it played along her nose, making her sneeze. Stupid skeleton and his stupid sneaky flirtatious ways. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest and she thought for a moment that she felt her Soul stir as well but pushed that thought aside so forcibly that she refused to acknowledge it. 

Aisling could hear Papyrus and Sans talking downstairs but was a bit busy trying to calm down her racing heart to really tune into what was being said. Getting up off of the bed she brushed her tingling hands over her pants, both to straighten herself out and to get rid of the sweat collecting in her palms. 

“Get a grip Lihi, he's just a man. Well. A monster, a skeleton. A skeleton man. You got this.” She murmured to herself, hands going up to bury themselves in her hair as she willed her heart to chill out.

She heard footsteps outside the door and tensed up, back ramrod straight as it opened and she caught sight of Papyrus's face. She immediately relaxed and smiled back at his pleasant expression. 

“Oh! Hello Papyrus.”

“Greetings again Aisling. I was just wondering if you would like to stay for lunch. Sans has informed me of his awful hospitality in not offering any food or drink since you arrived.”

“I would love to stay for lunch, as long as it isn't any trouble.” She said, following him out into the hallway. 

The door clicked shut behind her suddenly and she could see a bit of shadows from under the door. 

“I told Sans that he best get decent at the very least.” Papyrus stated when he caught sight of her puzzled look. “I do apologize for his behavior. He has always been a bit...lax.” 

“It's no issue. Really it's fine.” She assured him as they made their way to the kitchen. “Do you need any help?”

“No no, have a seat. Do you like tea?” He asked as he reached up to an exceedingly high cupboard. 

Watching him she realized she would have to have a step ladder to be able to reach any of them. It made her think of the one sink in her own house. A flash of something raced through her mind but she broke out of it as Papyrus turned and addressed her again. 

“Aisling?”

“Oh! Yes I like tea, thank you.” She hurried to answer, blushing with embarrassment she had gotten so caught up in her thoughts. 

“As I was saying, it seems like a lovely warm day so I thought perhaps a cool lunch would be in order, salad and a sandwich sounds good, yes?” He asked as he set a worn yellow kettle on the stove to boil water. 

“That sounds great. Are you sure you don't want any help? I feel bad just sitting here watching you.” She offered once more.

He hummed and then smiled at her over his shoulder. “I suppose it would go faster if we both worked on the two tasks. Here, you can prepare the salad and I will busy myself with the sandwiches. You do eat meat, correct?”

A common question with a complicated answer she supposed. “Um well. Yes, I do eat meat but I don't eat pork or shellfish. So no shrimp or ham or anything like that.”

“Oh?” He asked, a curious look in his eyes. 

“I keep somewhat kosher? It's ah, it's a dietary restriction I keep myself to because I'm Jewish. Which is a kind of religion and stuff...” She trailed off a bit, feeling awkward under his scrutinizing gaze. 

“I will have to familiarize myself with these rules, kosher you said? Would you be willing to teach me what I should do when preparing food for you?”

She blinked, again just. Blown away by how different monsters were from humans. No one else had ever offered to learn just for her benefit. Swallowing thickly she smiled and nodded as he handed her a cutting board and knife. 

“I'd love to. Thank you.” She looked down at the knife as he set out bags and plastic boxes of vegetables for her to cut. “It really means a lot to me that you'd do that.”

“Why of course I would do so. I am a good host and a good host takes care to provide the best for their guests.” He stated, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. “How can you be comfortable here if I make you something you cannot eat?”

He shook his head and continued to bustle about the kitchen, to and fro and to and fro again as he got out supplies from the fridge. 

“Now. Should I write these rules down, or are they fairly simple?” He asked, eyes bright with the idea of a challenge.

“I can write them down for you, but the main ones are pretty easy to remember.” She said, grinning wide, not even noticing Sans lurking in the doorway, watching. “First, I can only eat meat of certain animals. Common things I can eat are cow, sheep, goat, deer, that kinda thing. I can also eat chicken, duck and turkey, but the thing about all though is I can't eat them with any dairy product so you can't like, put cheese on spaghetti if it has meatballs in it.” 

Papyrus nodded and she continued. 

“For fish, I can eat anything with both scales and fins so most fish is usually fine. Just not things like crab or lobster or oysters. Oh, and for meat nothing can be rare. Not even the slightest, all of the blood in the meat has to be cooked out entirely or else I can't eat it.” She paused and tried to think back more about what the specific rules were. 

It had been so long, and really her diet was rather limited so she didn't have to think about the rules because she never came upon a situation where the validity of her food was in question. 

“A lot of food now a days have kosher symbols on the packaging so you can see at a glance if I could eat it or not. Here, look at this little spot here on the carton of tomatoes.” 

Pointing at the case in question Papyrus leaned down and peered at the little circle with the U inside of it. 

“That right there is the symbol of the Orthodox Union Kosher Certification. That means that other Jewish people like me went through and put the symbol on this to let me know I'm totally allowed to eat it.”

“How fascinating. That is very convenient indeed.” He frowned and looked at her. “Is this restriction like that of allergies? What happens if you accidentally eat something not 'kosher'?”

“Well I mean. I don't have allergies no, but if I ate non-kosher food I wouldn't feel very happy about it. It wouldn't physically harm me but like, emotionally? I might be upset about it. It's more of a personal choice thing than a I'll be harmed if I don't thing.” She snapped her fingers. “Kind of like a vegetarian or vegan. Most of them could eat meat and stuff but they don't and they can get upset if they do on accident but normally it wouldn't like, pose a threat to their well being physically.”

“I see. That does make a good deal of sense. I will have to check packages for that little symbol whenever you are set to dine with us.” He stated happily, going back to his work of mixing up something. 

He froze though, in the middle of scooping out a rather large portion of what looked like miracle whip. “Does fish count the same as meat in that you cannot eat it with dairy products?” 

“No, fish is different, you can have cheese and fish if you want to. Why?” She asked as she set about cutting some celery stalks. 

“Because I realized the bread I baked and was planning on using has milk in it and I do not know if that also counts against it.” He explained, returning to his mixing. The scent of tuna hit her nose and she understood his thought process.

“Normally I don't eat any kind of bread that has milk in it but because I know it I think it should be fine this time. Good question though!” She said.

“Yeh, Pap's pretty smart.” Sans murmured next to her. 

Letting out a yelp she felt her hand twitch out of surprise and gasped as she felt the blade slice through a fingertip. Immediately closing her hand in a fist to keep the blood away from the food she kept the knife in hand and walked it to the sink, dropping it there before curling over her fist as she held it to her stomach. 

“Son of a bitch that fucking hurts.” She growled as she tried not to cry. It felt like it narrowly missed the bone, but she didn't have the guts to look yet.

Blood dripped onto the floor and the tense silence snapped as Sans rushed forward. 

“Shit I didn't mean to scare you that bad, shit. Let me see it.” He said, voice tinted with worry and regret.

She shook her head and looked up at him with a strained smile. “I can't.”

He frowned at her and tried to take her hands in his, blood smearing on the white of his bones. “What do you mean you can't?” He murmured as Papyrus started set to trying to clean up the blood. 

“I can't, I don't want to see it I can't.” She whined, holding both of their clasped together hands close to her chest as if to protect it. 

“Listen, I don't know much about human stuff when it comes to this kinda thing, so you either gotta show me so I can heal it or you gotta tell me what to do to make it better.” He tried to explain, the light in his eye gone as he stared at her.

“I-ice. Ice wrapped in a towel.” She managed, and Sans shot a thankful look to his brother at the quick delivery. 

Taking the bundle from Papyrus, Sans waited until she uncurled her fist, head turned away. She had her eyes squeezed shut as tightly as possible, and felt herself jolt when he pressed the bundle to the cut, holding her hand in his gently. 

“Okay, I'mma set you up on the counter so you can sit while I do this, kay sweetheart?” He asked gently, the pet name having an entirely different tone to it than the last time she heard it. 

Nodding she only huffed softly as she felt herself be lifted again with magic and set down once more. 

“I know this probably hurts real bad-”

“Like a bitch.” She interrupted with a lopsided grin.

“But I'm gunna have to touch it a bit to look at it properly, so it might hurt worse.”

She felt panic rising but pushed it down and nodded, staring at his face as he worked instead of looking at her hand.

The glow was back in that one eye as he carefully pried the ice away, blood soaking almost the entire part of the towel. His attention was caught for a moment at the sight, as if he was thinking of something else but the sound of her soft whimper at the loss of the numbing cold brought him out of it quickly. 

The cut was down to the bone, a clean diagonal from the bottom near the knuckle crease up to the tip of her nail. Whistling softly he took in a deep breath before holding the finger loosely in his fist and concentrating. That same gooey sensation from before encased her finger, but this time it burned.

Letting out a soft cry she tried to yank her hand away but was held fast by his other hand gripping her forearm. 

“I know, I know just trust me okay, I promise it'll be fine.” He said soothingly.

She just whined and nodded her head, eyes squeezed closed again as it felt like small slimey tendrils worked there way into the cut, pulling on the edges to seal them. 

The burning sensation morphed into one of prickling, like her finger had fallen asleep and was waking up to that static sensation. She rode it out with a grimance until she felt it all fade away. She only looked when Sans let go of her finger, and blinked in almost tearful amazment at the clear black scar left behind. It was like he had injected ink into the cut, a strange tattoo of the cut left behind. 

“Shit, didn't know it would look like that. Sorry doll, really.” He muttered, one thumb brushing over the fresh scar. 

She tensed and he dropped her hand quickly, looking worried. 

“Sorry, that probably still hurts doesn't it?” He asked, staring at his bloodied hands for a moment before quickly washing them in the sink.

“S-something like that.” She said softly, biting her lip.

She wasn't about to admit that it was sensitive in an entirely different way. Nope.

Jumping down from the counter she clenched and unclenched her hand repeatedly, even going so far as to poke at the scar in wonderment. Magic sure was something. 

As she looked around she realized that the whole fiasco must have taken longer than she thought, for the salad was completed and sat in its glass bowl, and sandwiches were piled up in a pyramid in the center of the table. 

“Papyrus, you are some sort of culinary mastermind. How'd you do that so fast?” She asked, grinning up at him.

“Years of practice, dear Aisling. Years and years of practice.” His answer was humble but his stance was proud and she could only smile wider at that. “Let's eat, yes?”

“Hell yes.” She said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter! I couldn't figure out how to continue the action in a fluid way, so it is a shorter chapter than normal. 
> 
> Also, Bonus chapter wooo?
> 
> I might post another one before the end of the weekend, this is my sandbox where as MMaM is much more plotted out and planned. This is me just kinda fuckin around tbh.
> 
> Enjoy~

The lunch had been amazing, the kettle going off soon after they all had gotten themselves a plateful of the food Papyrus had made. The tea was called Golden Flower tea, Aisling was informed by Papyrus. There was a slight tingle to each bite or sip she took and she just knew it had to have something to do with magic but didn't ask any questions for the time being. Papyrus talked excitedly about what he would make on Wednesday, once Sans informed him that she would be joining them for dinner. 

Sans for the most part was the same as usual, lazily slumped in his chair as he ate, swigs of hot sauce in between bites of his sandwich. Aisling blanched at the idea of just drinking hot sauce like that but kept her opinion to herself. She couldn't really judge too much, she did have a habit of drinking the juices from pickle jars as a secret guilty pleasure. Condiment drinking wasn't that much weirder when she thought about it.

When all was said and done Papyrus shooed her out of the kitchen so he could clean up, shutting down any attempt she made at offering help. 

“None of that. You already got hurt once, you shouldn't strain yourself after that right away. Go on, out of my kitchen.” He said gently, swatting at her with a towel playfully.

“Okay, okay! I'm going, see?” She said, sticking her tongue out as she went to the couch and sat on it, sighing happily. 

It was so much more comfortable than her own couch in the underground. Where as her's was lumpy and barely holding itself together this one was plush and plump, lived in but not worn. A part of her missed the feel of the patchwork under her fingertips as she rubbed her hand on the cushion though. It was nice but it wasn't home. It wasn't hers to have really. 

Sans stood in front of her, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “So are you just going to laze around on my couch or do you want to continue our game?” 

The way he worded that had her on edge and she smiled at him slyly from the couch. “Why not both? I'm sure you can bring down the laptop and teach me more about magic while we sit on the couch.” 

His grin faltered only for half a second before he shrugged. “Alright, gimme a sec.” 

Triumph! She wasn't going to let him get her back in that room again to let anything indecent happen, nope she had learned her lesson finally. No more bed shenanigans, when she comes over next she would bring some notebooks and sit at the kitchen table, just to make sure she had an excuse to change the scenery. How much trouble could they possibly get into in the kitchen of all places?

He disappeared once more and was back the next moment, laptop in hand. 

“Too lazy to just walk up the stairs?” She snorted as she sat up a bit straighter. 

“Hey, no shame in my lazy game. Don't judge.” He joked softly as he got himself situated on the couch next to her. “Alright I don't really remember where we were so I'll give you the first question this round.”

“Oh how generous of you, kind sir. So. This has been on my mind.” She set her elbow on the back of the couch and cupped her chin in one hand. “If you have yellow magic, because of your yellow soul, and can do purple because it's the complementary, how come you can heal and lift me up? That would be green and blue respectively wouldn't it?” She had noticed this slight discrepancy early but had not questioned it until now.

“Sharp eye ya got there. Monsters can do more than just their natural and complementary magic with enough practice and trainin'. I happen to just be real good at blue magic, Pap is too when he wants. Green...Green is usually one of the easiest things to learn when you do the healing cuz' everyone needs to heal eventually. It's kinda standard that someone knows it to some degree.” 

She nodded and hummed. That made some amount of sense. 

“So can humans not do more than just their soul and complementary color? And how come when you do different color magic it still looks yellow?”

“That's two questions, which means I get two questions. Question one, can anyone go to this Temple thing you got going on, and two, what's your favorite time a day?” He asked, arms behind his head as he glanced over at her.

“Yes, technically anyone is allowed in it's not like we'd kick someone out if they came wanting to learn stuff, and my favorite time is dusk. I love watching the sunset and the stars in that pinkish sky, ya know?” She murmured, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. 

Sans stared at her for a moment, before clearing his throat and gesturing at himself. “The only other human I've ever known could do their own color and the complementary color, but nothing else. They tried but never figured it out last I knew.” He shrugged before continuing. “And that's cuz my Soul is yellow. So all my magic is colored yellow, no matter the 'color' of the type of it. The color is just a category it doesn't mean the magic used by someone is literally that color. Just that Souls a that color often naturally gravitate towards that type a magic. If I taught you how to heal you'd end up showing me what yer Soul color was anyways.”

She glared at him and held a hand over her chest. “You are rather insistent on knowing the color. Other than the Lv. what's it matter to you what color I am, really?” She asked gruffly.

He stared at her from the corner of his socket before looking away. “Color of a Soul says a lot 'bout a person. Despite it all I am kinda interested in who you are. Not just what you are.” 

“What I am? What's that even supposed to mean?” She asked sharply.

“I just meant magic-user. Chill.” He said, letting the laptop die in his lap before he shut it and let it blip out of existence, likely going to his room.

“Oh.” She said, calming down immediately, a soft blush on her cheeks at her behavior. “Sorry.”

“No harm, no foul. I get what you mean, probably coulda picked better words to get my meaning out. Don't go thinkin' I think yer a 'what' or nothin'.” He said, as he stretched his arms up and out, laying one over the back of the couch, fingertips dangerously close to her elbow still propped there. 

She tensed and looked at the skeletal hand for a moment suspiciously before relaxing and ignoring it. It was close but it wasn't touching her, so maybe he just honestly needed to stretch and didn't think about it. Yeah, that makes sense why would a skeleton man pull one of the oldest tricks in the book just to lay his hand near her? Obviously that wasn't what was happening. At all.

“So. We seem to have come to the end of your unending questions. You have plans for today?” He asked after a moment as she silently fought with herself on the merits of old fashioned moves and flirting. 

Snapping herself out of that train of though she shrugged softly. “Likely just head back home. I don't do much on Monday's usually.” 

He nodded and grinned. “I could always walk ya home. You didn't let me last time. It's only fair seeing as you've been here twice.” 

She gulped and pretended to examine her nails closely instead of meeting his gaze. “I dunno, it's quite the walk I wouldn't want to keep you away from...anything.” She ended lamely, trying desperately to think of some way out of this situation.

“Nah, you won't be keeping me away from...anything.” He said mockingly, winking at her. “If I didn't know any better I'd say it seems like ya don't want me to see where yer place is.” 

Her eyes widened for a split second, but it was more than enough to confirm his suspicions. He played it off as if he hadn't noticed, and leaned his head back as he sat on the couch. 

“Don't worry about it Squeak, I can be good. I won't bug ya into lettin' me walk you home.” He paused before opening one socket to look at her. “Today at least.” 

She groaned and sank into the couch, realizing a moment too late that she was within his arms territory as he let it settle down around her shoulders. She tensed for a moment before popping up off the couch in a rush. 

“A-actually! I have somewhere to be so. I will see you Wednesday, ya? Okay yeah good, sounds great, bye!' She said all in one breath before bolting out the front door, leaving behind a bemused skeleton. 

“Like hell you're disappearing that easily.” He murmured as he got up off the couch and opened the door. He only had to step onto the porch to feel the fact that there was a fresh tear in the fabric of reality around him. 

Closing his sockets he let his hand reach out and grab hold of the hole she had left behind in her haste and grinned. It was almost too easy.


	7. Chapter 7

He slipped through and stood in the Void, feeling like the world was whirling around him for a moment as he realized that he wasn't falling. Like going to step down one step too many on a flight of stairs and being met with solid where air should have been. It was disorienting, but not entirely unwelcome. Hurtling through the Void like he usually did wasn't easy to do when trailing someone. This more...organized version of the rips in reality was easier to navigate. Something almost akin to jealousy welled up before he shook it off. 

So what if her doorways were more like hallways than the rush of a roller-coaster in comparison? His way was faster. Whatever. Shrugging his shoulders up to where ears might be if he were human, he flicked his jacket's collar up and kept following her. She didn't seem to notice him at all, walking forward calmly. She didn't even hesitate when she stepped through to what looked like a room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aisling knew he was there in the Void behind her. It was hard to miss the unmistakable thrumming of his Soul that reverberated through the emptiness as she made her way back home. Despite her panic and indignation at being followed, something inside of her wanted to know what he was up to. If he was dangerous she'd just leave him in the Void to get lost for all she cared. 

...

Okay probably not, she would feel much too guilty about that. 

Maybe just lock him in her pocket? No, too many belongings in there that he would not be privy to. No she would just....Do nothing really. She would confront him, and tell him to fuck off. Yeah that sounded like a good plan of attack if he was being anything other than a mild nuance. 

Most of this thinking was done in a hazy state of forced calmness. She was trying desperately to not freak out about the fact that he was going to find out where she lived, if she didn't do something. Maybe instead of coming out the doorway directly in the house she could go to the one at the mouth of the cave hole? But then she would only have a few moments to climb down before he stepped out as well... She could try to pop into her pocket right afterwards but would he be able to follow her? She hadn't thought he could do so but the thrumming behind her told her otherwise. 

Making sure to kept to her calm pace she decided that just going directly home into her room was probably best. All of the curtains and blinds were drawn, so if he just ended up in her room, she confronted him and told him to go back, and he never checked outside the windows, he would never even know that it was underground!

Plan created. Time to execute it. 

Stepping out into her room she closed the doorway behind her loosely, still mindful of the the mere thought of accidentally trapping him in the Void. She wouldn't wish that on anyone. Shaking her head of the thought she hummed softly as she kicked off her shoes and waited, busying herself with organizing her books, back to the doorway while she waited for him to do....something.

But it was only silence. She didn't even hear the doorway rip open so much as feel his thrumming fill the air again, why was it that she could sense that so easily now? It was almost annoying how clearly she could hear it. It almost felt as if there was an underlying beat to it that drew her in but she refused to give that any time of the day and instead turned, words dying on her lips as she was met with am empty room. 

Blinking she furrowed her brows as she looked around the room. Sans was nowhere to be seen...but he was here. Was he....was he just going to spy on her? Did he not realize she knew he was there? 

She heard a crinkle, as if someone had flinched and pressed on paper and suddenly realized exactly where he was. Her art supplies were under her bed. It took all of her power not to laugh at the fact she had a monster under her bed. Literally. Biting her lip and keeping her head turned away she took a moment to think about what she would do.

Holding back a laugh at the situation she went back to organizing her books for a moment before standing up. It was then she got an idea. An amazing, perfect idea. He was being a voyeur...Might as well play him for a fool while he was at it. If he didn't have the decency to come out into the open then she might as well have fun with it. Stretching her arms over her head and arching her back she let out a positively indecent groan as she felt her spine pop and twist. 

She thought she heard him grunt and smiled to herself mischievously. This was going to be a bit of fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sliding out of the Void after her and then immediately tensing he dropped to the ground silently and rolled out of sight. Right under her bed. His bed. He didn't know how he hadn't realized it sooner, the doorway was the same one he used when he lived here, but he hadn't been back Underground in all the years that they had finally came to the Surface. There had been no need to, no want to. 

With a sinking feeling in his Soul Sans realized that Aisling had to have been living here alone in the abandoned town for a while, to have so much of her stuff strewn around his room. Her room. Details. 

Trying to press closer and lift the blankets so he could peer out at her he stilled when his elbow hit a stack of posters advertising 'The Magnificent Aisling'. He watched her with bated breath as she whirled around. Holding breath he didn't even necessarily need to take, he gulped as she surveyed his, HER, room and then let out a sigh of relief as she shrugged. That relief was short lived as she arched her body gracefully, he couldn't keep his sockets off of her form but the sound, the sound she made and the popping of her bones. He let out a soft noise and immediately cringed at the fact that he was going to stupidly give himself away over something like that if he didn't watch it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grabbing her house hoodie she brought it to the bathroom and hesitated only for a moment before her sense of adventure overpowered any inkling of self-consciousness as she changed into her night clothes. 

Pair of short shorts with the word 'Magical' across her ass...Check. Plain black tank top, check. Over sized and too comfortable blue hoodie. That is a check. Checking her hair for a moment she didn't let herself overthink her actions too much as she smiled and flushed the toilet, just to signal to her sneaky guest to hide if he was out in the open.

Stepping out she hummed to herself, and mulled over her options as she padded down to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. She had two obvious paths before her. Be obnoxiously provocative until he gets uncomfortable, or being so boring and sit around doing nothing that he gave up and left. One seemed much more fun than the other but...She wasn't sure on her confidence opening the can of worms that came with that decision. 

Sipping her tea she nodded, mind made up. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had been there for about an hour, and in that time she had done absolutely nothing of interest. 

She had sat at the kitchen table and read a book, sipping tea between pages. No music even, nothing. A part of him had been ready to confront her and tell her she couldn't slip away so quick when they were talking, but as soon as he had seen where she was living that plan had immediately gone out the window. A part of him was suspicious, yes. Some magic using human who he had only just met recently was living in his old home, how could he not be suspicious of that kind of thing?

But there was a air about her of benign existence. Nothing about her felt dangerous, or like she was likely plotting something against him or his brother. She hadn't attempted to once hurt him whenever he had pushed and cornered her, only tried to escape peacefully. He felt like she didn't have a single mean bone in her body. 

Not yet. 

Stop that. Now is not the time to be thinking of anything of that nature. No. Bad Sans, bad. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She turned the pages of the book at random intervals, and sipped her tea, but in all reality all of her attention was on the skeleton lurking at her doorway. He wasn't very good at being sneaky, she realized when she caught sight of him in the gleaming reflection of the polished fridge. He was in plain view, even with her back to him. A part of her wondered if he was that smug and self confident in his abilities that he was so obvious or if he thought her stupid. Regardless it was only showing his own faults. Good things to know about a guy when you start to get inter- Nope

Stop that thought in it's tracks. Maybe read a little bit of the … Dating Manual? Shit. This was not something she wanted him to realize she was reading, she had just picked a book at random from the pile. Curse the world and it's sick sense of humor. 

Her nose twitched a little at her internal panic as she tried to reason through it. There was no way he could see the cover of the book, and unless he got ballsy and came right up behind her enough to read over her shoulder he wouldn't be able to see what was being read, so she was fine. As long as he didn't get any closer...


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, unfortunately this was a little later than I wanted but my schools wifi was down last night when I went to send it in and well.... luck was not on my side. I had to re-type it and so now it is here! Yay!
> 
> Anyway from now on this will be updating every Wednesday!! Tune in to see whatever Aisling and Sans are up to, which is likely.... Well I won't spoil it but it should be fun ;) 
> 
> This is a bit short, but trust me, next chapter will be maybe just the tiniest bit racy. >;)

One of the things that struck him the most was that she was totally wearing his hoodie. Well...Her hoodie now, he guessed, but it was his originally. She was wearing his old clothes from years so far past that he could hardly bear to dwell on them. So many resets, so many ages, years and years worth of the same repeat of the same week, sometimes just the same day. Once it all ended he left it all behind him as far as he could manage and yet. 

Here she sat. In his blue hoodie he never wore after his...

Staring at his palms for a moment he held his breath for a moment and refocused himself on the task at hand. Heh, hand. Letting his fists fall to his side he continued to lean on the door frame, watching her bent over the book as she was at the kitchen table. 

What in the world was she reading for over an hour so intently anyways? She wasn't paying too much attention and if need be he always could just drop into the doorway that was in the center of the kitchen and go home if she caught onto him being there...Just a little closer, just the quickest of glances and he'd leave. He just wanted to know what had her undivided attention for so long. She had sat so still, entirely engrossed in the book that was just out of his sight that it had to be something important. 

Creeping closer, careful to not step on the creaky boards of the kitchen that he remembered being there, he noticed her tense up and stopped in his tracks, waiting with held breath again as he watched her close the book and place it face down on the table before going to the fridge. Reaching over he flipped it over and immediately dropped it back on the table as he heard the slamming of the fridge door, and let himself fall through the doorway, landing on his bed, his bed on the surface that is. 

“The dating manual?” He murmured to himself, head spinning from more than the adrenaline rush.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Crap. He totally saw it, he saw the stupid book, why didn't I look closer before just picking a random book? He probably has all the wrong ideas right now, all of them.” Aisling murmured to herself as she banged her forehead against the fridge door. 

She had thought that if she moved around he'd lose the nerve and skedaddle out of there but that plan had backfired more than faulty fireworks in the hands of a pyromaniac. Shit...

Staring at the book for a moment longer she sighed and got out a kettle. Filling it with water she slowly relaxed her body until her heart stopped hammering away at her rib cage and stretched onto her tip toes to grab a mug. It was a simple mug, white with a sharpie scrawled doodle of a magicians hat and wand on it with her name around it. On the bottom it had “Lihi” chicken scratched into it with the same dark ink that was baked into the ceramic. 

It wasn't overly long until the kettle whistled and she poured herself a cup of steaming chamomile tea, and sat back down at the kitchen table. He already had the wrong idea...Might as well...Read the book?

Picking it up after a tentative sip at her tea she cracked it open, and flipped the pages back to the beginning. 

“When pursuing a potential beau the best course of action requires tact and charm...” She read out loud, barely a mumble as she laughed lightly at the book.   
~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Pap?” Sans called out as he trudged down the stairs.

“Yes brother?” Came the calm answer.

It had been decades since...everything, and Sans still wasn't entirely used to how Papyrus was. 

He was and was not himself. He was enthusiastic and smart, obsessed with cooking and puzzles and brain teasers, even still infatuated with Mettaton, from a far. And yet... if he shouted it was rare and if he overreacted to a pun it was even more so. He was stern, and commanded respect just by existing, yet was kind. 

Just too quiet. Too calm. Too reserved. Staring down at his hands, and rubbing at the holes in his palms he shrugged to himself more than anything else. He wasn't exactly the same either. Why else would he put forth this much effort for some random human?

“What'd you ever do with that copy of that dating manual from when you went on the date with Frisk?” He asked rather bluntly.

Must be loosing his secretive touch.

“I do believe I left that behind with most of my other books in the Underground, why?” A sly smile made it's way across Papyrus' face. “Did you perhaps need some advice on what action to take with our fine friend who has graced us with her presence the last few days?”

Sputtering Sans coughed and felt a faint warmth in his cheekbones. 

“No. Just curious, was getting bored and thought it would be good for a laugh.” He said as he spun around and went back to him room, leaving Papyrus to his crossword puzzle. 

Mission accomplished at least, that was Papyrus's same manual, as he had correctly assumed. It would have been a bit odder if she had searched one out from elsewhere. 

“Of course brother.” Papyrus called after him as he turned away, smugness heavy in his voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“There are so many pages torn out of this thing... I wonder what happened to them?” Aisling murmured to herself as she fingered the torn edges. 

She could make an educated guess as to what exactly the missing pages were about from context clues. Mostly about Souls and what happened when you drew them out, which was an intimate experience but all of the details were gone. 

Which was unfortunate. She had kind of wanted to see if any information about Souls in general, even if it was of the more romantic based views, would have any indication of magic use and what she was capable of. 

Sighing she shut the book for the night and threw it onto the table before setting her cup in the sink and wandering up her stairs. Sleep. Sleep was good. Sleep was lovely and would maybe get her brain to stop thinking about what Sans was likely thinking right that instant.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeeeey

It was a slow day, she could feel it already. She hadn't even gotten out of bed yet, the artificial light that lit the Underground perpetually wasn't even enough to make her get up and at it. Sometimes her moods snuck up on her like that. Made her limbs feel like they were weighted down with rocks and she couldn't bare to even go to the surface to wander around or even sit at the park for a time.

It was times like this she knew she should really talk to a doctor, but without an address or any other proper paperwork that wasn't going to get her very far at all. Besides...Sometimes all she needed was a bit of time. Friday was only two days away, and being at Temple always made her life seem a bit better. So she would just hold out until then. 

Besides...She did say she would see Sans today. Though she wasn't entirely certain she wanted to hold up her end of the deal on that one. It would be beyond easy to just. Not show up. Not show up ever again. To just drop that potential path for her future. To go back to strictly living as she had before she had run into him. 

Her chest ached momentarily at that thought, which was enough to send into an upright position. Oh hell no. She was not going to just let that feeling creep up on her like that. Time to get out of bed. Run that feeling raw until it wasn't there anymore. Yeah. Good idea, good. Get up, shower, then maybe take a walk. 

It was simple, she decided as she washed her hair and hummed to herself softly. She would walk through Waterfall. It was as far as she could go in the Underground before she hit the wall that separated the shut down area she resided in and Hotland, where all the public areas were. 

She would take a walk, maybe even a small swim. The pools had surprised at her at first, and despite being somewhat used to seeing them their luminescent surface still managed to captivate her whenever she visited them. At one point she had the thought cross her mind of whether they could technically count as mikveh, seeing as they seemed to be naturally occurring springs. And she could completely submerge herself in most of the isolated pools pretty easily. But then again, with how it glowed, she wasn't sure if any magic was inside, and if that had any bearing on the issue. In the end she had noted it in the back of her mind to debate with her Rabbi at temple sometime. Purely hypothetically thought, no one else knew she lived down here, after all. 

Except Sans? Kind of? She didn't think he had seen out the window, so maybe he didn't know exactly where she was. She continued to hum as she slipped into a bathing suit and threw on pants and her hoodie for the walk over. He had probably lived in the Capital anyway, the mass majority of monsters who had come up had all lived, in close quarters, in New Home before being freed to the surface. She scoffed softly at herself. 

The slim chance he had lived down here exactly where she squatted? Negligible. Her secret was probably perfectly safe even with his failed attempt at spy work. She smiled as she stepped out into the brisk air and quickly made the short trip into the warmer and wetter area of the Underground. 

The echo flowers were probably her favorite thing in the Underground, if she were honest with herself. They were beautiful, and it was amazing to lean down close and listen to the voices that came from them. She had accidentally spoken to the first one and just about fell back in fright when it had spoken her words back to her. She had quickly figured it out and was cautious to be silent when close enough for the other flowers to pick up her words. Something inside of her felt the need to keep the voices of those people long since gone continuing on. The wishes for the surface that were answered, the prayers.   
She wiped away a tear and smiled as she made her way towards her favored pool. Sometimes the thought of having a flower like that in the house crossed her mind, to keep her somewhat company. In the end she was too afraid to accidentally kill on when trying to transplant it. Maybe if she read up on ways to properly transplant, but then again that would take time and money she didn't necessarily have to spare for the time being. 

Shrugging it off she sighed happily as she slipped into the water and dunked herself under the surface, taking in the otherworldly sight of the lit up water. The oddest thing that had caught her attention at first was that nothing was alive in the water. No fish, no insects. Just plants and herself. At first it had set heavily on her mind, made her suspicious, but she had never once gotten sick after a swim and had long since brushed the worry aside. 

She hummed to herself softly as she swam, playing with the surface of the water as she turned her mind to more pressing matters.

At some point or another, today, she was going to have to face Sans. 

Lowering herself in the water she blew bubbles as she let that thought sink in. She really didn't want to. Not because she didn't like his company though he was a bit...Flirtatious. She had to admit she kind of liked it but that wasn't the point. He had a lot of information she might not get another chance to get, and Papyrus was...Really nice.

Something about the two brothers just made her feel at peace, as if her Soul itself felt calm around them. Which on one hand was alarming to her, but on the other hand she didn't have it in her to not trust her own Soul. It was her. 

Rubbing a hand absentmindedly over her chest she let herself float on her back for a moment, staring up at the glittering gems of the cavern. If she squinted her eyes and pretended, they could almost pass for the night sky on the surface. In their own unique way they were just as beautiful and fascinating to her, but the thought of only knowing them and not the stars as well made her wince in sympathy for those Monsters from the past who never knew the real night sky. 

A sound, like the rustling of grass made her flounder for a moment and right herself so she could look around, but no one was there. The same feeling she got in the ruins of that house flashed through her as she surfaced and pulled herself up onto dry ground once more. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she hurriedly shrugged her jacket on and zipped it up.

It wasn't Sans, she could tell. She couldn't feel his presence at all. No, this was familiar and different all at once. It was similar to the feelings she had when on the street at night. She couldn't shake it as she shakily reached out tugged at the air and stepped through. 

She would just go home. It was fine. No one could follow- Well. Almost no one could follow her here in the Void. Dammit Sans.

As she stepped fully into the doorway, a vine crept close, barely brushing against her ankle as she made her exit.

A single yellow flower stood out against the background of blues.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So i said I wanted to put myself on a schedule and all for writing and updating, but honestly?? School is getting in my face and telling me that I'm funny for even entertaining the thought. Right now my plan of attack is to finish Hey! and then likely finish S's and G's. After that I'll be able to focus entirely on MMaM, and the other parts of that overall series. 
> 
> I dunno how long it will take me but trust me when I will be working at it a bit harder than before. Sorry for the wait, I hope you like.

Toweling off her hair was the only thing she could do once she had stepped into her bedroom. Perhaps it was just habit, but she didn't think to bother taking a shower after her swim, and didn't spend much time over thinking her outfit as she threw on jeans and a light striped sweater from her closet. It wasn't even October yet, but that didn't mean she couldn't wear black and orange together.

Checking to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything, though what was there to forget really, she nodded to herself and stepped into the Void. There was a small lurch, as if her foot went a step lower than she had expected and she let out a soft startled squeak before pausing to gain her bearings. That had never happened to her before...

“Are my shoelaces long?” She murmured to herself as she bent to look.

Shaking her head she shrugged it off as her just being clumsy, it wasn't entirely out of the question. But as she walked further and further along down her hallway, counting, the ground began to shift. Slowly, and at such a minute rate she didn't realize it until she was conscious of the fact that she was walking a bit faster than usual. 

As she stood still, the floor jolted and she fell to her butt, sliding faster and faster, wind which she had never felt before in the Void rushing past her, whipping her hair in her face and stinging at her eyes until her hands didn't even feel the pressure of the floor that had seemingly rotated so far she was now free falling. 

Her screams were silent, swallowed whole by the Void as soon as they left her mouth. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she closed them shut tight and tried to focus. Her room, she could always reach her room it was the first thing she ever could do, magically. 

With desperation set heavy in her limbs she reached out, and for a moment, all she could feel was the sensation of ripping and pain setting fire to her shoulder. 

Her feet dangled, as she bit back a curse and let herself cry freely if only for a moment. 

“Please HaShem please, don't let me die here.” She sobs.

Taking a deep breath and muttering more prayers to whoever would listen, she slowly reached up with her other arm and struggled to pull herself up into the rip she had made. Shooting pain that ran through her veins like lightening in her right shoulder made her gasp out in pain and sob a bit more before she finally managed to swing her legs up and into her small room, and let the darkness of the Void get closed out behind her. 

Laying on the floor, surrounded by her belongings she started to laugh between the gasps for air. Trying to sit up, she let out a whimper as her right arm twitched and screamed in protest. Her fingertips tingled in a way that made her feel raw. Swallowing a yelp she forced herself to sit up and took a moment before looking at her shoulder. 

It was dislocated. She could tell. It was dislocated and she was in the Void, well in her tiny set aside portion of the Void, and alone. She wasn't sure if she could even leave without starting the free fall all over again, and grit her teeth in frustration. There had to be a way out. A safe way out.

“Fucking...This isn't funny. I do not think this is funny at all. This is horrible and...” She sighed in the middle of her rant at herself as she hiccuped. 

She would just cut a hallway, look in, and see if all was normal. If it was, she would run as fast as she could to the opening and get out, and then she didn't even know how she would explain what happened at Sans' house. 

Wait...Sans... He knew she was supposed to show up.

He was able to get into the Void...his version of the Void was very similar to the Void she had just narrowly escaped from...

Would he be able to sense her if she cut into it but didn't venture out from her room? 

Although that would mean she would have to bank on him coming into the Void to find her.

But really, what choice did she have?

Struggling for a moment she found the floor beneath her feet once more and with her left hand, cut a slit into the Void once more. It was … not empty as usual. There was wind, rushing around, as if she had opened up to a rain storm. This was not the Void she knew. Swallowing thickly and rubbing at her face to get rid of the tears she reached a hand out just to see if she could sense anything.

Nothing, but the biting cold of rushing air over her hand.

“Fuck.” She muttered to herself, pulling her hand back in. 

She couldn't stay in the room...but she wouldn't go back out into that without Sans to somehow control it like he could.

As tears welled in her eyes in frustration, a distant dot caught her eye. The Void was always black and well....Void of anything of note to see, unless someone else was there. Cocking her head to the side for a moment she furrowed her brows in confusion as the blip grew in size. It was a yellow glare, a smear as if a shooting star before it got close enough that her breath caught in her throat.

It was Sans.

Waving her good arm as much as she could to get his attention she smiled wide as she stepped aside from the doorway. Wind from the Void came in with him as he whizzed past her face and crash landed in her room, boney limbs akimbo as he tried to find his bearings.

“Aisling! What. What happened to your arm?” He shouted as he jumped to his feet, approaching you cautiously. 

“Um. Well. It is probably dislocated. I...don't know?” She answered as truthfully as she could as his hands hovered over her shoulder. “I … can pop it back in? But. It will hurt really bad and I'm...”

She mumbled the rest of her words and he leaned in closer, eye light glowing fiercely. 

“Can't quite hear ya when you do that sweetheart.” He said, looking like he wanted to help as his hands kept hovering just a touch away from her shoulder.

She drew herself back a bit and sighed, rubbing at her nose to get rid of her tears and snot. Now was not really the time to think about appearances but she couldn't help but be a bit embarrassed. 

“I said, I know how to pop it back in but it will hurt and... I'm kind of afraid to do it and still shook up? Like. What even happened? How did you find me? What's going on?” She demanded of him suddenly, eyes burning with determination as she danced outside of his reach.

He let his hands drop and regarded her for a moment, almost clinically. It wasn't something she was used to and it made her skin crawl for a moment.

“I don't know what happened. I ...was already in the Void and could sense you and then you disappeared and reappeared so. I locked in on you. Again, I don't know what happened but that shoulder needs to be taken care of.” He reached for her again but she shook her head and stepped back again, dangerously close to the open rip to the Void. “...Would you feel more comfortable at the house?”

She looked at him before attempting to cradle her arm in the other and nodding. “Yeah...”

“Alright. I think this is for the best, just. Don't freak out okay? I need to concentrate to do this.” He said.

“What do you mean don't freak-!” She let out a gasp as his magic washed over her and lifted her into the air, before throwing her bodily out into the Void, him close behind her. 

She wasn't falling but the sensation was not comfortable, as if she should be falling and could be falling but couldn't feel it. Like being on a plane but going straight down, or an elevator that was too slow to notice.

Regardless, it made her stomach clench and she held her eyes closed, murmuring a few prayers, until she felt something solid under her feet once more. 

“Paps? Paps come here I need your help.” Sans called out, leaving you in the living room. 

This was not how you expected today to go.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall. I'm not gunna keep apologizing because it will be endless because of how I am as a person, but Great News.
> 
> Have a new chapter and see this fanfic itself get finished up before the end of the year at least as a sure thing because ive got the writing bug and wanna make sure to wrap this up before I even think about doing a new fanfic. Hope ya like the chapter and again not sorry but well....Yeah I'm sorry its taking me so long. Medical shit has me on low at all times.

She didn't know how much she could take, of this pain radiating in her shoulder and the shakiness of her limbs as she stood there. She was trembling and it made her feel weak. A rational side of her brain tried to reason with her and pointed out that she had almost just gotten lost in the Void. The scared part of her just screamed endlessly in a wordless drone that had her zoning out as the skeleton brothers came into the room with her. 

“What has happened to our friend Sans?!” Papyrus exclaimed, kneeling down at Aisling's feet as he hovered his hands near her, afraid to touch. 

His head was still a bit above hers and she was reminded of just how huge some monsters could be. 

“Not sure exactly but I'm gunna find out. Later.” Sans said, hanging back a bit from the two. “Right now I need ya to work some magic.” 

She sniffed and tried to put on a brave face, tried to stare off into the distance but Sans stepped into her line of sight instead, his cracked face full of concern and something else. Close to hurt but that couldn't be right. Why would he be looking like that? He wasn't the one with a dislocated shoulder.

“I-I'm alright guys. Promise, just shook up is all...” She trailed off as Sans glared at her from over Papyrus's shoulder. 

“Aisling...how about we get you sat down for this, alright?” Papyrus said softly, getting back up and guiding her to the couch. 

“Su-sure.” She murmured, startled a bit by the contact. 

“I do see that the shoulder is out of the socket. We will need to pop that back in and it's going to hurt, but I promise you I will do whatever in my power to make this as quick as possible.” Papyrus said as he reached out, a soft green light shining on his fingertips as he did so. 

“Of course. I trust you.” She said, no hesitation as she looked up at the towering skeleton. 

His face seemed to soften a bit at her declaration, and he nodded before getting back to his knees again and grasping her arm gently. She winced when he lifted her arm and tried to hold back the whimper hanging in the back of her throat as he glanced up at her briefly. 

“I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do before I do it so you aren't unaware, okay?” He asked her.

She nodded her head and watched him with wet eyes, but no tears. Yet. 

“I'm going to lift your arm up a bit, like this” He said as he lifted her arm up, one hand supporting her elbow with the other gently grasping her forearm, to a 45 degree angle or so away from her body. 

She hummed softly and continued watching him, trying not to show how much it hurt, she thought back on her past and could without a doubt label this as the worst she had ever gone through.

“And I'm going to hold your forearm at a right angle from your upper arm like this...” Papyrus murmured as he did so, ignoring the tears that were slipping out. “Sans please make sure she doesn't shift too much, I don't want anything to be out of place.” 

“Sorry 'bout this sweetheart, try not to panic.” Sans muttered as a heaviness fell over her body and he pinned her with his magic. 

“I trust you both.” She said quietly even as she kept crying, the pain indescribable to her in the moment. 

And it was true. Despite both of them being more powerful, bigger than her, and more, she trusted these half strangers, half friends. She felt no fear, only pain and gratitude for their help.

“Now I'm going to push your hand towards the right, and then I'm going to push it towards the left as far as I can. Are you ready?” Papyrus asked, watching her face.

“L-locked and loaded.” She said, her bravado stuttering on the way out. 

With a glance up and over his shoulder at Sans, Papyrus nodded and then swiftly took action. Pushing her arm quickly but with confidence as the sound of grinding bone on bone filled the air and Aisling let out a startled half bitten back scream of pain. She would have jerked away, but she was glued to the couch by Sans' magic and could only feel her muscles tense and twitch in Papyrus' grasp as the ball slid back into the socket. It felt like her shoulder was full of needles, a much more severe sensation but somehow still somewhat similar to the pins and needle feeling of a sleeping limb that is trying to wake up. It felt like it was full of static, and on fire all at once, all balled up right at her shoulder, while the rest of her upper arm and creeping towards her neck was a sense of numbness. 

She smiled through the haze of tears as she felt a warm goopey sensation press into her shoulder and spread over the area, the green glow bright as Papyrus worked. 

“I am thoroughly sorry for the pain I caused while taking care of that for you dear. If there had been a way to keep it utterly painless I would have. I do hope you forgive me.” Papyrus said as he reached up and wiped away a tear clinging to her cheek. 

He looked so distraught, like he had just betrayed her and it made a warm feeling rise up in her chest as she rushed to reassure him. 

“There's nothing to forgive! You helped me, I should instead be thanking you. Honestly, thank you.” She said, the pain fading so fast that it felt like a horrible nightmare even as her skin darkened and bruised rapidly and then shifted to yellow before disappearing all at once. 

She placed one of her hands over his on her cheek and smiled brighter than before. 

“I mean it. Thank you.” She murmured. 

A soft cough from Sans startled her out the little moment she was having with Papyrus, and Papyrus smiled at her before winking, and standing to face his brother. 

“Sans, I trust that you can take care of our dear Aisling from here and make sure to chase away any lingering pain as it pops up?” He said with a joyful tone, before bowing to Aisling slightly. “I do hate to leave so soon after such an experience, but a colleague of mine was expecting me, and I must be going. Take care dear.” 

With that he threw on a sharp woolen coat and walked out the door, leaving the two alone. 

The silence between them was tense, and she closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at Sans. There was nothing but a soft ringing in her ears, it was so quiet. The hammering of her heartbeat thudding in her own skull joined the ringing and she could feel the anxiety rise up as she found she didn't know what to say. She was frozen instead trying her hardest not to look at him because if she did she felt like she would just start crying about how scared she was until he showed up. 

Because of this internal chaos she had churning, she didn't realize he was hovering right over her, a hand on either side of her head on the back of the couch until she felt one knee press down on the couch cushion near her thigh. Gasping, her eyes flew open and she gaped at him. 

“Wh-” She started, but he interrupted. 

“Don't. Just. Lemme make sure you're okay, please?” He said, a certain level of desperation in his eyesockets. 

She gulped and slowly pressed her back further into the couch, trying to shrink in on herself away from him. 

“What do you mean?” She asked, just as hushed a tone as he had right now. 

As if anything louder would shatter the situation they were in. His other knee came up on the other side of her lap and she could feel the thrumming of his soul, like music and yet not, in her own chest. She had a good idea of what he meant.

“Please, I just want ta check and make sure ya aren't on death's doorstep.” He said, one hand coming off the back of the couch to hover over her chest, but not touching. 

He was half bent over her, his weight held off of her lap but his entire being was just so close, too close, she could feel her heartbeat rush and it almost made her go cross eyed with how dizzy she felt, it was too much. 

Putting a hand up, she placed it on his chest and with the slightest pressure, pushed him back. 

“Sans I...” She started, as he backed off a bit but still stayed in her lap. “I'm not... I can't. Please don't pressure me into this.” 

A flash of pain in his face caught her eye, and he went to stand up fully away from her, but the hand that she had had on his chest to create distance suddenly gripped the material of his shirt instead. 

“D-Don't pressure me, but don't leave either.” She said, confused all at once but unwilling to let him run away from her. 

He watched her face, steadily taking in her features and something must have made sense to him, because after a pause he nodded. Instead of staying in her lap though, he fell to the side of her, sprawled out on the couch and brought her with him. 

Letting out a soft yelp of surprise more than anything else she was pulled on top of the skeleton. Blowing a tuft of her hair out of her eyes she scowled at him. 

“Way to break the moment there Sans.” She said, still soft but the tension in the air was gone so she was thankful for that. 

“It's my specialty sweetheart. Just rest, yeah?” He said, a lopsided grin spreading over his already lopsided cracked face as she didn't make any move to distance herself from him. 

She was rather tired...And after everything she didn't think she had the gumption in her to go out and perform right now...It was early enough in the week, she had time to make up the cash...she was just too sleepy to do it now...

She was out like a light as soon as she let herself relax against Sans, his soul singing to her and putting at ease like a lullaby. 

Sans wasn't going to be able to sleep anytime soon.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wha'd I tell yall??? Writing. Bug. Have another chapter and guess what. This weekend I've got no work scheduled. GUess what that means
> 
> Yup. More chapters. Hold onto ya seats kiddos.

Aisling woke up to her face feeling the slight soreness of being pressed against something without much give for far too long. Rubbing at her eyes sleepily she tried to sit up, to take stock of her situation but was instead held tight in her spot. 

“Wha...” She grumbled as she blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes still. 

She laying on her side, smushed between the back support of the couch, and a skeleton. Sans. To be exact. He was asleep, or at least had no lights on in his eye sockets as normal when he was awake and so she took that to mean they were 'closed'. His face was slack, or at least more calm looking, than usual. The fact that after only a few days of interacting with him she could tell that his face always had a slight guard to it certainly said something. 

What exactly it said Aisling didn't care to over examine at the moment. Instead she was going to take this moment to take in Sans face without him trying to unnerve her. Or flirt. Or both, as the cause was. 

She could see the porcelain like shine of his surface. She couldn't really call it skin seeing as he was in fact a skeleton, but that didn't change the fact that she felt like if she reached out it would feel just as soft or warm as any skin having being would. Hesitantly she reached up one hand and with feather light care, trailed her fingertips over his cheekbone. 

He hummed softly in his sleep and leaned into her touch slightly. She was enthralled. Flattening her palm onto his cheek she rubbed her thumb over the corner of his mouth. His face was not like bone at all and she wasn't entirely surprised by that. He obviously had a mouth opening that slightly covered his teeth, and he could smile or scowl just like she could. Papyrus was shaped differently, on the face, with his exposed teeth and eternal grin, even when he was frowning. Both of them were so much more than just human skeletons that moved around and she was reminded of that as his cheek gave just the slightest bit under her thumb. He was warm, as well, which shouldn't have been a surprise to her, but it was and for that she was slightly ashamed of herself. It wasn't as if he was dead, he was a living being just like her so why should such observations of him be any kind of surprise at all?

Did she not think of him as a person just like her just because he looked like something associated with death?

What did that say about her if she subconsciously had?

She was deep in thought, thumb still rubbing a soft back and forth over Sans cheek when the front door opened and a tall figure appeared. 

She tensed up, before seeing who it was and relaxing a fraction. It was just Papyrus, but....This was not a position she felt comfortable being found in and yet Sans' heavy arms held her right where she was. 

The smile on Papyrus' face looked like it might crack his face even more so than it already was and she could feel her face burn brightly at the glint in his kind eyes. 

“Papyrus! This isn't what it looks like...save me.” She whispered as loudly as she dared, lifting her hand off of Sans' face with a flash of a guilty look crossing her face. 

Sans only made a muffled sound close but not quite a whine and burrowed his face into her neck, causing her to look up at Papyrus with desperation now. 

“Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase.” She begged, still taking care not to wake up the not cling to skin skeleton she had. 

Papyrus just looked down at the two with a overjoyed look and a playful glint in his eyes. 

“It does seem you are in between a rock and a hard place, are you not dear? But what kind of gentleman would I be to leave you in such a predicament?” He murmured softly, before waving his hands with the green glow bathing the semi-dark room. She could feel the warm from before, as well as the gentle tugging as both she and Sans were lifted into the air and untangled from each other. She was set on her feet, and Sans was left hanging in the air, snoring now. 

“Thank you. I'll just ah...Leave now.” She said, embarrassed as she tried to slip towards the door. 

The feeling of heavy magic gripping her feet almost sent her tripping but another dose of it caught her before then and righted her. 

“Aisling...I do not feel comfortable letting you run off so soon after a healing of such magnitude as earlier. Please do just consider staying the night so that if any pain resurfaces either my brother or I can help you. I won't stop you from leaving, but I am not only offering, but asking earnestly.” He said, setting Sans back down on the couch with a soft look on his face as he pulled down a blanket and covering the smaller skeleton. 

She looked down at her feet, as if to confirm he had released her from the sudden trap and worried at her bottom lip with her teeth as she thought it over. She did feel some soreness but nothing she couldn't handle reasonably on her own. And yet...She was afraid to go into the Void until she and Sans knew why it had suddenly changed it's behavior so suddenly and it would take her a very long time to walk all the way home. Let alone climb up and down the rope ladder...

“I suppose you have a point. As long as you really don't mind me being here, I don't want to impose.” She said, smiling up at Papyrus meekly. 

“I would not offer, if I did not wish for you to actually take me up on it. You are more than welcome here, are you hungry at all?” He asked suddenly, turning towards the kitchen. 

“Not really, but I should probably eat something shouldn't I?” She asked, trying to think back to when she had last eaten that day. 

She couldn't remember, which meant she should. 

With one last glance at Sans still sleeping form on the couch she followed Papyrus into the kitchen and sat at the table, watching as the taller of the two brothers glided around the kitchen, in his element it seemed as he threw together something in a pot that was already smelling utterly delicious. 

“What are you making?” She asked. 

“Oh, just spaghetti, with no meatballs but quite a lot of cheese. I checked and it has that same little symbol you showed me before so I hope that is alright?” He said, glancing at her as he chopped up some garlic to rub into the bread slices he had laid out. 

It had been a very long time since she had had garlic bread and the idea of it alone made her salivate a bit. 

“That sounds wonderful Papyrus, thank you really. You've helped me so much today I don't know how I can make it up to you.” She said.

“No need to make up anything to me. You make my brother more energetic and happy then I've seen him in...a long time. Your company is payment enough for any possible favor you could ask of me.” He explained as he checked the oven and set the timer for the bread. 

The pasta was already boiling as he brought out a mason jar of what looked like homemade sauce. 

The smells and the sounds of a proper kitchen doing more than just heating up something in a microwave made a nostalgic wave of memories of her mother bustling around the kitchen, making matzo ball soup and challah for shabbos filled her head. The smile on her face was deep, but tinted with a slight sadness that Papyrus picked up quickly when he glanced at her. 

“So. Dear Aisling. I hope it doesn't alarm you, but my brother does talk about you at times and I do know you are a magic user.” He started, holding up a holey hand as she started to sputter.”That doesn't matter quite as much to me as it does him, I always believed humans as a race had it within them to do so. My brother was a bit more skeptical, but don't mistake me and take that to mean his only interest in you has to do with that.” 

She cocked her head and looked at him curiously as he paused and looked out the dark window for a time. She waited patiently. 

“Sans likes your personality. He has been watching your shows for a while now. I hope you don't find that worrying but he caught one of your shows on accident and became curious about how well you managed to do your tricks. He would watch from a bit back and he finally figured out relatively quickly that it wasn't tricks at all. Your reputation does proceed you just the slightest in this house.” He explained. 

There was a tense fear coursing through her body at the thought of anyone other than Papyrus and Sans knowing her secret. Again, Papyrus was quick to pick up on her thoughts. 

“Do not worry, it is only myself and Sans who have any idea about you and your talents. We won't tell anyone else either, without your express permission. You are safe with us. I hope you believe me on that.” He said, standing to take the bread out of the oven after the timer went off, and checking the noodles by flinging one stand onto the wall. 

It stuck. 

He set about draining the noodles and pouring them back in, adding in the jar of sauce and setting the heat at a low heat, before grabbing a few blocks of cheese and setting about to shred them up. It was quite a sizable mound, and Aisling was excited about the idea of eating more than she usually was. That was saying something as she was almost always ravenous. 

She also appreciated the fact that as Papyrus worked it gave her time to think through her feelings about having her secret known by not just Sans but his brother as well. About how they had both used magic on her, always to help her, or with her express permission. About how they seemed to genuinely care. About how she completely agreed that she was safe with them, it wasn't even doubted in the slightest in her mind or in the core of her beliefs, hidden away in her soul. 

Her same soul that happened to feel like it was filled to the brim with care for these two brothers, even if she hardly knew them. And sometimes, she thought, that was the way that things went. Some people are just meant to click and for some reason the three of them together...Felt right on a level that Aisling wasn't sure she had ever felt before, even with her own family. Maybe with her mother and her one on one, but with her father it had been...tense... 

She was lost in her own thoughts, when the smell of spaghetti right under her nose, placed on the table brought her back to her senses. 

“Oh! Thank you. I feel like a broken record thanking you so much but I do have a lot to be thankful for, so I hope you don't get sick of hearing me say it.” She said with a grin as she looked at the absolute mountain of pasta on her plate and the bread set beside it

Jumping up from the table quickly she washed her hands, murmuring to herself as she did so, and then sat back down again, starting her prayers and finishing them as quickly as possible so she could dig in.  
.   
“Baruch atah...” 

Most of the prayer was half mumbled at a rate that Papyrus couldn't quite catch, but Aisling dug into her food and started devouring it quickly so he didn't think it was important to question her on it. The only real thought he had about it was that it sounded nice, melodic, and obviously foreign from any languages he did know, which was admittedly only a handful. 

The kitchen was silent other than the sound of food being eaten, but it was comfortable. 

~~~

When the food was finished and both of them felt full and content., and after Papyrus had set it all into some tupperware for Sans later and into the fridge, he offered her a hand up and gestured towards the stairs. 

“I am of the opinion that you are likely still tired, despite your nap?” He asked with that same glinting smile as when he had first found her. 

Aisling went to answer, but a yawn took over her face before a single word could make it through and that was all the confirmation Papyrus needed, really. 

“Seeing as Sans is so comfortable on the couch, how about you steal his bed for the night? He won't wake until tomorrow, if his habits stay the same as always. So you have no fear of him suddenly barging in on you.” He assured her as he lead her up the stairs, flicking lights off as he went. 

That same soft glow of green lit their way up to the bedroom door and he bowed slightly to her as they parted ways. 

“Papyrus?” She called out to him softly, mindful of Sans downstairs.

He turned to look at her. 

“Good night.” She said with a smile before slipping into Sans' room. 

Papyrus could only grin at the shut door and shake his head. 

“Sans has no chance.” He said to himself with a soft nyeh heh heh.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever had a moment where someone pointed out that your bra was showing and you were mortified?
> 
> Yeah me neither. Anyways have a chapter.

By the time that Aisling woke up to the smell of eggs and veggies, and made her way down the stairs with her hair in a large frizzy curled halo around her head, Sans was gone. 

There wasn't even a crease from where he had been, and she ignored the slight disappointment coloring her mood as she made her way into the kitchen. Papyrus was working on what smelled and looked like some wonderfully cheesey and vegetable filled omelets and she smiled wide. His thoughtfulness about her diet was just...something that surprised her every time because he hadn't forgotten yet. She was used to people saying they would, and then forgetting the first time they had an opportunity to eat something that wasn't kosher and leaving her by the wayside. 

It was nice to be thought of, and not as an afterthought either. It was different. 

“I hope you like omelets Aisling, there was a rather large abundance of eggs in the fridge and I felt this was the best way to go.” He said with the same calm smile as always. 

Aisling wondered how flexible his face was, seeing as it was obviously a bit different from the level of Sans' face. 

“I can smile and frown, but it does seem that my face is a bit more stationary than my brothers.” He answered her question. 

She flushed dark as she realized she had spoken out loud her thoughts and sat at the table, trying not to burst into flames with how hot she felt with embarrassment. 

“I don't mind the question. It's natural to be curious, is it not?” He asked as he set the food on the table and joined her. 

Her lightening fast prayer passed her lips again before she started to eat the food before her, soft hums and noises of delight escaping her as she did so. 

“I suppose so! I just....asking about someone's face is probably rude in most circles.” She said after catching her breath. 

“Mm. I admit I am curious about some of your quirks and behaviors as well.” He said as he tucked into his omelet. 

“Oh? Like what, I'm a pretty open book usually other than...you know the magic thing.” She said. 

“Well, every time lately that we eat you say something in a language I don't understand.” He pointed out. 

“Oh? Oh! You mean the prayers, yeah that's just another part of me being Jewish. I say certain prayers before eating things, and honestly there is a ton of prayers I say in certain situations. It's just...habit at this point really. Sometimes I forget if I'm really distracted but I'm sure HaShem understands. That's the word I use for my deity.” She explained, expanding when a confused look crossed over his features. 

“Well, it sounds lovely. What language is it?” He asked, leaning forward to place his chin in his palm. 

“Hebrew, um. Kind of a mix of Sephardi and Ashkenazi, which are kinda like...different dialects of it so it's the same language at its core, Hebrew, but different ways to pronounce stuff. My mom spoke Sephardi, but most of the shuls I've been to are Ashkenazi based so I'm a bit in the middle.” She said, sighing happily at her empty plate. “That was delicious Papyrus. You are truly a master of the kitchen and all that belongs in it.” 

“Oh you flatter me too much dear. But thank you.” He said, his cheekbones stained with a light green color as he gathered up the plates and set them in the sink to soak. 

“I do have a few plans today, and while Sans is out he will be back shortly. A colleague of ours called him out for some assistance with something, but he should be done soon if I know him.” He grinned a bit at that, and gestured vaguely at his home. “You are more than welcome to continue staying, and actually I would rather it. This morning Sans did explain a bit to me, and with what happened I'd rather we were all safe rather than sorry. Again we won't keep you here but you are welcome.” 

She nodded and continued watching him. 

“I would not mind at all if you would like to accompany on my errands, or you could stay here and relax. The choice is entirely yours, but I am leaving soon so as to keep on schedule.” He advised her. 

She tried to hide a sudden yawn behind both hands and looked up at him sheepishly. 

“I think I'll stay here for now. I'm still feeling really tired, but I think it'd be fun to go help with errands some other day if you are up for me following you around?” She offered. 

“Of course. Do try to rest up, and I will be back a bit later tonight. There is food in the fridge and you are welcome to anything you desire, and again Sans should be home soon so no need to worry about being on your own if something is to come up with your shoulder. How is it feeling today, if you don't mind me asking?” He said.

“It feels fine so far. A little creaky like it hasn't been used in a while but I think that's just some lingering numbness or something, not sure.” She explained, as she rubbed at it absentmindedly. 

He nodded bowed slightly to her. 

“If for any reason you need me, there is a list on the side of the fridge that listed my cell and Sans. We have a land line so if you need either of us, call. If it's immediate issue, I would however suggest Sans as your first call. I will do everything in my power to get back to you in a timely manner, but it will take me an age in comparison to Sans.” He advised as he threw on that same woolen coat and approached the front door. 

She trailed after him, nodding at all the information. 

“I'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty sure nothing is going to happen, honest so don't worry about me.” She said. 

“Nonsense. Why wouldn't I worry for you? You are my friend.” He said before slipping out the door with a soft good bye.

Aisling couldn't stop the smile spreading across her face if she wanted to, and just shook her head at the entire situation. 

Monsters really were much more trusting and kind than humans as a whole. It was kind of alarming, the level of culture shock she was feeling every time one of the brothers proved just that. 

Looking around the living room she was still standing in, smiling like a maniac, she decided that the best course of action was a quick shower, and then a lazy day on the couch until Sans got back. Then maybe some magic learning like before. It was only Wednesday, and while she was missing out on a day of performing right now, it wasn't too bad. Her main reason for performing was to buy food and she was getting fed, so the urgency usually in her head about getting on the street was absent. 

Slowly making her way up the stairs, she peeked into a room in between Sans and Papyrus' room and was glad to know her gut instinct was right. It was, like much of the rest of the house, a very sleek and clean looking bathroom. White and black speckled marble covered the floor in a simple square tile pattern. The sink was stainless steel as was the towel racks attached to the wall, and the fixtures found in the tub and shower combo. The tub itself was huge, more than big enough to fit three of her, but then again thinking back to just how tall Papyrus was, that wasn't a big surprise all things considered. The tub was a pristine porcelain and claw footed setup. Upon closer inspection she realized the feet of the tub looked like the skeleton of a cat, or something similar. It fit, and made her giggle to herself. 

Such a small detail but it said a lot about the house and about the brothers. It just made it so much clearer that they had taken time and a lot of effort and money to make this house theirs and theirs alone.  
In the middle of her giggles she felt her mood take a shift down as the unbidden thought came to her head. 

She didn't belong here. Not really. 

Huffing at her own thoughts, she shucked off her clothes and set them carefully on the edge of the sink. Running the shower to get the heat up, she took the time to look at her shoulder in the large mirrors above the sink. It didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. The skin wasn't even slightly bruised, it looked exactly the same as the other. And yet, she could feel a slight stiffness in it, could remember the lightening bolt like pain coursing through it and it made her spine straighten as she shivered. 

Hopping into the shower, she suddenly realized she hadn't thought this as thoroughly as she should have. She could just rinse and scrub with her nails, but she had no soap of her own. There were two distinct toiletries inside the shower, set on a little shelf plank thing on the farther end of the tub. 

One set was all set upright, from largest container to smallest in a neat row, some sort of gentle mint and eucalyptus scent. 

The other set was just flopped down where ever it landed, one on it's side and uncapped but not leaking, which was really just two containers of all in one body and shampoo mix of a spicy citrus scent. 

She had no doubt whose was whose, and she wasn't sure why, but she reached out for the spicy scent, and used that. No reason at all, it was just random, she said to herself as she worked a lather into her curls and smiled.

It was a familiar scent that she hadn't picked out until now, but thinking back on it, it had been there. She just hadn't needed to name it, and she still wouldn't, not now. No reason to. Nope. She didn't want this at all for at home. Just a one off. 

Sans had arrived to what on first glance looked like an empty house. Distracted by the calculations still running over and over in his skull, he didn't even hear the sound of running water through the pipes, or the distinct music he associated with Aisling's soul. 

Instead all of his attention was focused onto a point in his head, from what he had been discussing with Alphys. The Void was a strange and but predictable segment of reality. For all of it's intricate 'rules' it had seemingly self imposed, it wasn't normal for it to change how it behaved. The fact that it had been regularly stable before for Aisling and then changed in the middle, had been the same for all his life, but suddenly shuddered and shook strangely like a moving vehicle smashing into a wall before breaking through in the middle of him trying to go from one point to another as par usual, meant something was wrong. Or perhaps not wrong, but something had to have changed, at the least. But what would that one variable be?

He was deep inside of his own skull as he wandered up the stairs, planning on a long shower to stew over the information he had dug up with his friends help. 

Aisling had long since rinsed off and scrubbed her skin just shy of raw with a loofah she had found on the floor beside the tub and was standing, dripping as she regarded the option presented to her. There were only two towels in sight, a plush looking and faded green bordering on grey towel that looked like a blanket or cloak in comparison to her body, and a thin, worn white towel besides it, in a much more manageable size. Only a bit bigger than was entirely necessary for her. 

She had to use one of them, or risk waiting around to drip dry entirely, but the words Papyrus had parted with stuck out in her mind. 

Sans was probably going to show up if she wasted anymore time than necessary trying to get over the fact that she hadn't thought the whole shower thing through and had just jumped into it without planning what she would do once she was in or after she was done.

Reaching out for the white towel she wrapped it around her body, and tucked it under her arms. She was bending over, patting at her legs when she heard the door open.

“Uh.” Was the only sound that escaped Sans as he opened the door with one hand.

The other was already holding his shirt, and his pants were unbuckled, but thankfully still hanging precariously on his hip bones as he stood in the doorway. 

Aisling's head had shot up so hard a distant part of his mind was worried she'd give herself whiplash, and her large grey eyes stared up at him with surprise. She was frozen, bent over, breasts half spilled over the top of the towel and the air of the bathroom still steamed and thick with the scent of his bath wash.

He was just as frozen, mind blank in such a sudden way he might as well have short circuited for all the brain power he was putting out as he continued to stare at her, slack jawed. 

So of course as they had this tense moment of shock and confusion, his pants would fall down around his ankles, revealing his bone covered boxers. 

Slamming the door shut he walked away, the sounds of his footsteps and the opening and closing of his door letting her know where he had gone. Her mouth felt dry, and after a moment of stunned silence, she let out a peal of laughter, so hard that she doubled over even more, her ribs and stomach clenching and making her gasp as she continued struggled to catch her breath.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My back is killin me. Also 4th times the charm there Sans, keep it up and who knows what'll happen. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Careful what you wish for.

She was fully dressed, and the towel was hung over her arm as she fidgeted in the hallway. His door was there, right in front of her but something in her had her hesitating to knock. So Sans had seen her in a towel. His towel. In his bathroom. Whatever. Not a big deal. It's not like she was particularly modest about her body, she went to the beach in a bikini, she wasn't someone to be overly worried outside of temple how much of her body was covered. 

Was it shocking? Yeah. Was it a bit mortifying? Yeah. Was it something she couldn't powerhouse through? Hell no. She could handle this. And to be fair, it was sort of equaled out by his pants betrayal. Hopefully he wasn't feeling too embarrassed by that. She was sure that her laughter had gotten under his non-existent skin and she felt bad for that but. Honestly. Bones on his boxers? And the timing? Perfection. How could she not laugh at that?

Finally after some lengthy self convincing, she reached out and knocked on the door. 

“Sans? I ah. I used your towel and wanted to know where to put it so it can get washed?” She called through the door when she didn't get an answer. 

There were some shuffling noises, and the door opened to reveal him, still half naked, but this time with some sweatpants tied tightly over his hipbones, preventing any possible slippage. She could feel a small smirk twitch on her face before she could completely school it into a more polite look, even as her eyes lingered for a second too long at his pants. 

She held the towel up with a careful smile, trying to diffuse the tense energy between them. 

It wasn't the first time she had ever seen him shirtless, but this was probably the first time she had taken a through look at him. There was a deep gouge across his face that she was surprised she hadn't noticed sooner, and she could see the faintest speck, a pin prick really of light hovering in his chest cavity that she immediately averted her gaze from when it clicked that that was his soul or whatever much of it that showed without it fully drawn out. 

Her face flushed as he just looked down at her, with the blankest look she had ever seen on is face, even more blank than when he slept. His eye socket was void of any light, and it made her want to fidget even more than usual under his empty gaze. 

“S-sans?” She asked softly, suddenly much more unsure of herself than before the door had swung open. 

He reached out and plucked up the towel, a yellow haze enveloping it before it disappeared from view with a soft pop. 

“Uh.” She grunted dumbly as she looked up at him, not sure where to go from here.

The silence stretched on thin between them before she couldn't handle it any longer. 

“Nice pants?” She said, immediately cursing herself mentally.

But it worked. 

The light came on in his eye socket and he broke, letting out a loud guffaw, one hand over his mouth as he laughed.

She smiled in response, glad that the air was cleared and leaned on his doorway as he let loose for a few more moments. 

“Thanks sweetheart. Glad to know ya ain't mad. I was kinda worried.” He muttered, rubbing the back of his skull with one hand and he looked down at her. 

“What? Why would I be mad it's not like you did it on purpose. Did you?” She asked.

“Nope, definitely not, that's something I would not do on purpose.” He said, hands held up in mock surrender. 

His easy smirk set her at ease and she rolled her eyes at his antics. 

“I almost thought you were angry with me for using your towel or something, you know you look almost scary when your eye does that.” She said, gesturing at his face. 

“Does what sweetheart?” He asked, his face quirking in a way that made her think if he had skin he would be raising his eyebrow. 

“The whole. Not there thing. The light goes out. It's like no one's home or something.” She struggled to explain, pouting as his grin got bigger. 

“Ah that, fuhgeddaboudit. It just happens sometimes don't mean much, I'm just glitchy.” He brushed it off, but she felt it wasn't the truth. 

She'd let it go. For now at least. 

“So...” She started.

“So?” He repeated, looking at her expectantly. 

“Uh, I was just going to ask if we could go over more magic stuff but um. Did you want to get that shower in now or...?” She trailed off. 

“Nah it's all good. I'll grab a shower a little later, besides gotta have a towel and Pap would get mildly cross if his was used by someone else.” He explained, taking a step back into his room, one hand gesturing for her to come in as well.

She followed him in, heart feeling like it was going to try and crawl up her throat as she realized she was walking right into a situation she had already planned on avoiding. It was like her feet were traitors bent on her destruction. 

Or at least the destruction of her carefully built up walls she was attempting to maintain. 

She glanced at the chair, and remembering the heart attack it was willing to give her if she dared sat on it, decided that that was a no. A glance at the bed and her face flushed slightly, also a no. There was a desk full of papers, and if it wasn't so covered in things that were likely important despite their disarray she would have sat there, but again that was another no. Really the only option she could think of that felt safe and distant enough was to sit on the floor but...There was not a lot of places cleared enough to even sit on the floor and something told her that if she went that route it could get just as bad as the bed. 

She stood there silently contemplating what she would do, when her choice seemed to be made for her, again by those traitorous feet that had no respect for the authority of her brain when it came to what to do. She found herself perched on the head of the bed, back resting against the headboard as she watched Sans wander about his room, picking up papers from what looked like to her utterly random spots. 

He had a good stack of papers in hand before he flopped down besides her, cornering her onto the bed. He was so reclined he was almost laid out fully, and his feet, still in his shoes, touched the other end of the bed. 

For a moment she wondered out he could possibly sleep comfortably in this bed if he was longer than it overall, but she squashed that train of thought before it could possibly derail. She was on the bed, she had made her decision even if it wasn't in line with the rest of her intentions, and now she had to deal with it. Don't go any deeper down the rabbit hole than she already had.

“So, Squeak-” He started.

“Don't call me that.” She said quickly.

“Sweethe-” He tried.

“Nope.” She said.

“...Aisling...” He said with a smirk, and then continued forward as she didn't interrupt this time.”I got some more stuff together that just kinda details things 'bout magic in general.” 

Lifting some of the papers he ruffled through them held one out in particular to her. Taking it from him she scanned the page quickly and glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“So...This just looks like a child's homework, albeit about magic but...This looks like something you'd give a kindergartner.”She deadpanned. 

“That'd be 'bout right darlin'” He said, grin growing as she glared at him for the endearment. “Ya ain't a kid, I know this, but ya still got to start someplace and why not have that place be the same as most monsters?” 

She hummed and nodded slightly after a moment, internally admitting that he might have a point. If an adult had to learn how to swim they usually took beginners classes, which were often full of kids. It made sense that even though she knew how to use magic in her own way if she were to learn more to have the same basics as him. That way they could build up from that point and have the same foundation so he wasn't saying something to her that made no clear sense to her but was almost second nature for him. 

“I mean, I think ya probably have a better chance at speedin' through most a the material seein' as yer an adult and have been usin' yer magic for a while even if ya might not be doin' it in the most typical way so. It's like catchin' someone up from home schoolin' more than startin' from scratch.” He explained, setting the pile of papers on her lap and crossing his arms behind his head. 

His eye light followed her as she shifted around to lay out the papers, his heavy half lidded sockets causing him to look...she wasn't sure of the word she would use but it made her arms pebble with goosebumps. It was almost predatory, but at the same time not at all. 

Trying her hardest to ignore his gaze on her, she read over the papers. Most of them had ways to memorize what kind of magic is usually attached to what color of the soul one has. A distant part of her remember Hebrew School and learning the Aleph-bet song. The tune slipped out in a gentle hum as she read over the papers, becoming less aware of her surroundings and more focused on the information presented to her. 

Sans was watching her, half enthralled by her swaying side to side like a flame at the top of a candle and her humming, half amused by how she seemed to have completely shut him out in favor for the papers. It wasn't a huge surprise to him really. He knew that her main goal seemed to be finding out more about her abilities and he couldn't rightly blame her. He had done much the same on his own for months, shutting out even his own brother who had gone through his own....transformation. He had been obsessed with months after … it... happened to figure out his magic, how his soul was, the all together familiar and yet completely foreign sight of it as it was now. 

No he didn't blame her at all for ignoring him in favor of the papers, but that didn't mean he didn't feel a deep seated part of him grow jealous. She was absolutely focused, so much so that he wasn't sure she'd even hear him if he started to talk to her as she was right now. She was right next to him, her side brushing his elbow with each swaying movement towards him she took absentmindedly, and yet thousand of miles away in her own mind. 

At least it gave him a moment to look at her unhindered. She had that awful habit of turning her face away from his, or hiding it behind her hands, in a hood of her jacket, behind her hair if she shook it out just right. They didn't even know each other more than a handful of days and he had her number down perfectly, he thought. 

She was hiding away from everyone and everything, if she could manage it, while displaying loudly and proudly another part of herself to distract from it. If she was loud and boisterous on the streets, in shops and when she met people, typically people wouldn't attempt to pry further and leave her secrets alone. 

Unfortunately for her, Sans was much the same way in the guise of jokes and puns and his punkish clothing. He knew her game, because it was his game first and he wasn't willing to just quit at the first sign of her trying to shut him out. He would just have to convince her that he was someone she could trust. 

He realized with a slight start in his soul that he wanted to be someone she trusted. And not just so he could find out more about her as a magic using human. But to find out more about her as Aisling. 

His eye light grew fuzzy as he zoned out in a state of half panic half amazement at his own sudden breakthrough, when Aisling finally looked up from the papers and turned her storm sky grey eyes at him. 

“Okay I read them all. Now what?” She asked, still swaying as she spoke. 

“Welp. I could quiz ya, make sure ya didn't just skim all the material.” He said with a grin, forcing himself to be the absolute picture of relaxation, sinking even more into his bed. 

“You're on. Hit me with your best shot skele-man. I got this.” She said, turning towards him and leaning down so her chin was cupped in her palm, elbow supported on her thigh. 

The scent of his own body wash wafted off of her, mixing into something familiar but all together new as her own natural smell changed it. It smelled more earthy, and fresh than it did on him, and it distracted him as he tried to think of a first question.

She waited patiently, a fire behind her eyes as she did so, watching him. 

“What's the color a Justice?” He finally blurted out, with all the grace he could master. 

“Yellow, like your soul.” She stated simply. 

He wanted to melt into the bed, she didn't have to add that last part and the fact that even though it was obvious with his magic color, he wasn't expecting her to put it quite that way. 

“Color a Kindness?” He said instead.

“Green, like Papyrus.” She replied. 

He smiled softly at that and nodded, humming to extend his time.

“Color of your Soul?” He said with a smirk, not thinking it would be that easy but willing to give it a chance.

The fire in her eyes felt like it was going to burn a hole through his skull as she regarded him for a length of time. His voice failed him, as he just returned her gaze, his smirk fading. Maybe he had pushed once too far with her. 

“That's three times I've turned you away. Maybe ask me once more.” She murmured, a heaviness to her tone making a cold chill to run over his body. 

His voice felt like it was trapped somewhere between his Soul and mouth, trying desperately to crawl out into the open and reach her. Before he could get any words out, a knock from his doorway interrupted the tense air of the situation. 

Papyrus stood there, his eternal smile wide and almost mischievous. 

“Brother, I do hope you aren't bothering our guest too much. She was still quite tired when I left this morning and the day is almost done.” He said, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the two. 

They looked cozy. 

“No way Pap, me? Nevah. I'm the picture of a host at his most.” Sans said, swinging his body up and off the bed with a grace that Aisling wishes she possessed. 

He walked towards his brother and they fell into a discussion about food, and someone named Undyne, but Aisling was only paying attention to half of it really. 

Most of her was focused on their moment before Papyrus' arrival. Would she have actually allowed him to see her soul? What was wrong with her? She hardly knew the brothers, even though in the core of her being she couldn't deny that she felt like she did, on a level she didn't understand and didn't want to read too much into. She believed there was a bashert, someone so complimentary that they may as well have been made for her, out there in the world. There were times she thought that perhaps everyone had many soulmates and that they didn't all necessarily have to be romantic so much as they were a missing part of your life that made you feel more than you thought possible before. 

Some not so small part of her felt like these brothers of bone perhaps were meant to meet her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehehe
> 
>  
> 
> I know this is a bit of a tease but you;ll get full coverage of some reall fun stuff next chapter
> 
> What did happen during those lost hours hmmmmm?

“So dear, are you going to stay another night with us? I do know that not too much has been done about what caused all of this ruckus in the first place, so you are more than welcome to our home for as long as you need. The choice is yours.” Papyrus said, snapping Aisling out of her thoughts. 

“Um. I don't want to bother but I know you'll say it's nothing so....” She frowned softly, chewing at her bottom lip as she thought. “I probably should. If the Void pulls something like that again I might not be as lucky. We have to figure all of that out first, if we can, before I go in it alone again.” 

Sans and Papyrus both nodded and gave each other a quick glance before Papyrus walked towards her and offered a hand up from Sans' bed. 

“Seeing as you will likely be staying until this is all clear, however long that may be, perhaps we shall go out and get you a few essentials?” He asked. 

She cocked her head and looked at him blankly for a moment before it clicked what he was talking about. 

“You aren't offering to buy me stuff are you?” She immediately said as she wrapped her fingers around his.

“Well either we head over to your home and gather some things for the time being, or yes, Sans and I would buy what is needed.” Papyrus said, as he pulled her lightly to her feet. 

For a moment she wondered what it would be like to dance with the tall skeleton, just being pulled to her feet felt graceful and she grinned and held his hand for a moment too long before she felt prickles of being watched and glanced over at Sans, dropping the hand. 

His face framed a smile that looks just the slightest bit forced and she tried to ignore the odd squeezing feeling in the center of her chest. 

“I...My house is actually a bit of a distance, and it would be a pain to get enough stuff back and forth without using the Void...” She said as she tried to come up with a reason to turn down both offers. “I want to try and see if something works, and if it does then I shouldn't have to buy too much and will be able to grab the cash I do have so you two don't have to cover me.” 

“What would that be?” Papyrus asked.

“I have...like a little room I keep stuff in? In the Void. And it's always been separate from the part of the Void I use to get places. So I wanna see if it works the same way because it's got a lot of stuff in it I could just grab and not have to get new.” She explained. 

“Don't that feel a bit dangerous seein' as we are tryin' ta not to have ya in the Void until we know what's goin' on?” Sans half growled. 

She looked over at him and took in a deep breath before motioning for him to step towards her. She met him halfway in the center of the room and fidgeted before grabbing his hand and holding onto it, her much smaller hand span causing her fingertips to fall into the hole in the palm of his hand. He stiffened but didn't try to stop her, only seemed surprised. 

“I don't want to go into the Void alone until everything is figured out but I want to see if my pocket is affected.” She explained at his questioning look.”Who better to come in with me than you?” 

He had to school his face into a look other than positively glowing and also melting all at the same time, so instead he nodded and smirked at her, eye practically sparkling with the amount of light that was there. 

“If ya wanted ta hold my hand all ya had ta do was ask darlin'.” He drawled. 

She huffed softly and rolled her eyes before turning slightly away from him and holding her hand up to the air. 

“Try and take this seriously?” She murmured.

“Are you certain you feel up to doing this? Don't rush yourself just because you want to avoid inconveniencing us, I can assure you we are more than happy to help you.” Papyrus tried to tell her.

“No, I gotta do this. I told you both already, I trust you. Sans won't let anything happen, right?” She said with confidence, until the end when she glanced at him. 

Papyrus continued to watch them worriedly. It was more than apparent to him that Sans wouldn't let anything happen to her. Whether or not anything would happen to him was much more in the air and it set him on edge but he could see the nervous energy practically rolling off of her, and wasn't about to make her any worse off than she already was. 

He was confident enough in his brother's abilities, but that didn't mean he wouldn't worry. 

Sans only smirked wider and looked down at her with a soft expression, his fingers squeezing her hand softly. 

“Course not doll. I'm the best around don't ya know?” He said. 

“...If you are set on it, again I won't stop you. But I do worry that you are taking an unnecessary risk doing this.” Papyrus stated. 

“I...I've been able to do this since before I could remember. I promise I'll be as careful as careful can be. I'll get out immediately if even the slightest thing seems off.” She assured him. 

After a moment he finally gave in and nodded a go ahead, knowing it was a lost fight. 

She hesitated for a moment, the hand holding Sans tightening for a moment as the memory of her shoulder flashed through her mind, but shook it away and got to work. Ripping through the fabric of reality was easier this time. 

It went too quick, like a scalpel through a sheet instead of the rugged tearing she was used to, and she almost stumbled right into the opening because of how unexpected the give had been. Sans holding onto her hand and pulling her back into balance was the only thing that prevented that. Shooting him a quick thank you, she turned back to the slice, and watched it warily before stepping towards it, Sans in tow as she disappeared into it. 

A few moments went by, and to occupy himself, Papyrus wandered about his brother's room, picking up and tidying here and there, making the bed, straightening out the papers on the desk and setting them into proper piles instead of the scattered stacks they had been. He hmpf'd at the pile of socks but left it be, not willing to deal with that issue right at the moment. 

Checking his watch, he wandered down the stairs and set about chopping some veggies and lettuce, and mixing it all up to set in the fridge, as well as the simple task of chopping up even more veggies and some tofu bricks and setting those into a large crock pot. Dinner would be ready whenever everyone was set to eat, and he could focus what was the highest concern. 

The Void. 

Bringing out his cell phone he started to text to his colleague, as he walked up the stairs and back to the room where the cut in reality was found. He took pictures, and a few measurements estimated in his head before sending off the information to Alphys. She was excited, as he had expected, and they set up a running observation of the slit, as he waited for Sans and Aisling to return. 

It was well over an two hours before there were any noticeable changes in the slit, and it was that it was attempting to shrink and close as he watched it. He just sighed and walked closer to the split hovering in the air, poking one fingertip in as the hole attempted heal and close.

“Ah ah. None of that.” He murmured as he put a few more fingers in and managed to wedge his other hand in as well, slowly pulling the hole until it was large enough for him to step one oxford clad foot onto one edge, and held the top above himself. 

In the time it took him to do that, and peer inside the slit, he caught sight of Aislings face racing towards him, and next he knew the two of them tumbled back through, as if bodily tossed from the Void. 

Stepping aside, Papyrus allowed the slice to seal itself, and grabbed both of them in midair before they could crash into the wall with his magic, gently setting them down on their feet. 

“Am I to assume that did not go as well as you had hoped it to?” Papyrus asked. 

The resigned and slightly distressed look on Aisling's face was enough of an answer for him to nod and turn to Sans. 

“Thanks for spiffin' the room up a bit while we were gone bro.” Sans said with a genuine smile.

“You are welcome. You know which card to use.” He said, and then he turned to Aisling. ”Do not worry about the cost, dear. It is no real matter to us, so get what you need. We won't begrudge you that.” 

“I couldn't-” She started to protest.

“Dinner is set up whenever you would like to grab something to eat, there is a salad in the fridge as well as a tofu stew in a crock pot. I'm going to be out again meeting with another colleague with the new information that I gathered to try and get this situation under control.” Papyrus carried on as if he hadn't heard her, but the grin on his face said otherwise. “Really, I mean it Aisling. You can, but we won't force you. But I don't want you to be uncomfortable while you stay here until everything is cleared up. Please. Let us help you.” 

She swallowed thickly and nodded, trying to fight down the blush of embarrassment at having to have them help her so much in the last few days. 

“I'll find a way to pay you back, I promise.” She said. 

“You're company is payment enough. I do not know when I'll be back, so don't worry if I am not here when you head to bed. Take care for now.” He said to her before giving Sans a knowing look, and leaving without another word. 

“Bye Papyrus. Be safe.” She called out after him, but as she stuck her head out into the hallway, he was already past the stairs. 

He moved fast, but then again he had very....very long legs. 

The sound of the front door closing was the only thing she heard, until she could feel Sans hovering over her shoulder, much too close, so close she could feel his radiating magic prickling at the hairs on the back of her neck. 

“So sweetheart...ya wanna talk about what just happened in that pocket a yours?” He asked.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
> 
> okay so. just so yall know i know the pacing and how many days its been that this has occured over but you tellin me  
> you telling ME  
> that yall have never ever found yaselfs in a sitation where it was going fast but felt right and you said fuck it and went for it cuz adventure?????
> 
> ya thats what I thought anyway have fun with this. im having a fuckin blast.

It had probably only been three hours tops that they had spent in the little pocket of hers, but it had felt like only twenty minutes tops. As soon as they had stepped through, they fell for a heart stopping time that had her clutching to Sans, almost molded to his side to feel some semblance of control over her body. He had quickly re-routed them and made sure they had stopped long before they got too far into the Void. It was the Void, but it was still her private corner of it. But it was so much larger than before, so much more than she had thought it was possible to be. 

He had managed to set them down calmly in the middle of the room it looked at the time, with the opening she had cut open high above them, almost so far that it looks like a star twinkling in the darkness of the surrounding blacker than black Void. 

She hadn't let go of him even when she had felt solid ground under her feet, instead choosing to press her face as close as possible to his ribs and holding onto his arm until her breathing evened out. 

She hated the feeling of falling. 

He hadn't rushed her, actually he had awkwardly set cheek on the top of her head and patted her back with his arm not currently taken hostage by her grip. He hadn't let his guard down while in the Void though. While she calmed down his eye scanned their surroundings, taking in every detail possible to outline to Papyrus and Alphys later, or write down if he didn't get to them quickly enough. 

He had seen what she kept referring to her pocket but only briefly when her shoulder was injured. This time, it was huge, probably the size twice over of the kings throne room still underground. Many times larger than the almost closet like space he had burst into before. Scattered about the floor there were odds and ends piled randomly. And despite the fact that it didn't make sense to his understanding of the Void, there did look to be solid walls just barely within his eye sight. 

As he had looked, Aisling had relaxed and let go of him, her face flushed as she scanned the room, eyes lighting upon a few select piles. Scurrying over to the closest one, she knelt down to sort through it only to let out a sound of disgust and jerk away from the pile. Her hands were covered in a thick oil slick shining substance, as black as the Void that surrounded them making her hands look like they weren't there at all for a soul shattering moment. She had shaken her hands frantically and the globs of darkness came off.

“What the-? What was that?” She asked, rubbing her palms on her pants to rid her hands of the slick sensation it had left behind. 

“Don't know, but I wouldn't go stickin' yer hands back into anythin' without checkin' it throughly first.” He said as he brushed past her to a familiar suitcase. 

Bending down he hesitated for only a moment before running his hand over it. No goop. Kneeling down he unlatched it and nodded at the things inside, before shutting it again and pushing it away with a well placed kick. 

“Hey! That should have my cash in it.” She said, scowling as he kicked it. 

“Yeah. It shoulda. Ya don't wanna look, trust me.” He said. 

She had taken his word for it and rubbed her arms instead, trying to get some heat back into her quickly cooling body. They had already been in there much too long. She was starting to feel the effects. 

“Well. It's obvious this isn't the way it was, so whatever changed affected this too.” She said, struggling to keep the chatter out of her speech. “We should head back.” 

He had only given her an odd look but shrugged. 

“Alright, if ya say so sweetheart.” He walked closer to her and cocked his head to the side. “You okay?” 

“I'll be fine, we've probably just been in here too long.” She looked up at him. “I don't know why but the longer I stay in this place specifically in the Void, the colder and more tired I get. It's like it's trying to suck me up.” 

His face twitched, and if she had bothered to look at him closer she would have seen the alarm written across clearly. He had grabbed her, and pulled her close before she could even squeak in protest. 

“Can't have that happen can we?” He said, trying to keep the worry from his voice even as he looked around for a way up to the exit. It was so far away, he wasn't entirely sure that he would be able to sustain them all the way up there. It was one thing to just re-direct the already set motion. Another entirely to propel them that far of a distance. Looking down at her he had know that she didn't have much time before she got too cold. 

Wrapping her up in his arms he picked her up bridal and started to walk towards one of the walls of the room. Maybe, just maybe there would be something he could work off of there. Something that was more substantial than the emptiness of the center.

“Hey! I'm still able to walk on my own yo-you know!” She exclaimed, while clutching to his neck so as to not fall. 

“I'm sure ya probably could for a bit, but it seems like times a the essence, and you got little legs. Nice legs, but little.” He said with a smirk, as she hrmp'd into his neck. He fought down the warm attempting to crawl into his cheeks, and instead focused on the mission. Get out and get out faster. 

Halfway to one of the walls, he could feel her breathing slow down alarmingly so, and glanced down at her, only to stiffen at the realization that she looked...Half out of it. 

“Hey. No sleepin' yea?” He had said, jostling her slightly. 

She had only mumbled in response, her hands still holding onto him but only barely. He could feel the threat of panic rising and squashed it so he could at least attempt to think clearly. What would heal her the absolute most the fastest?

She was still conscious, she couldn't bring herself to move or talk, but she could see and hear and feel everything as if she were wide awake. She wanted to reach out and assure him she was fine but she couldn't. If she could manage it she would just speak, but the words got clogged somewhere in her chest and never even made it to her throat to try to crawl out to him. 

Determination burned inside of his soul and that was all the tip off he needed to know exactly what had to be done. Taking a deep breath, he half ran towards the wall, aiming towards a corner of the room, as he willed his soul to manifest in his chest. The darkness glowed with yellow golden light as the tiny pinprick of his soul grew and shaped into the obvious configuration of a proper soul. It strained against his rib cage, and finally after a moment of struggle slipped through and hovered over Aislings chest, radiating heat and feelings that he had kept under wraps until now, which directly seeped into her soul. 

This was a step too far but it was the only thing he could think of to keep her going until they got out of there, and if she was mad afterwards about it...he would rather her be mad than dead and drained by the Void. He had to take a moment to breathe heavily once he finally hit the corner of the room and looked up to gauge just how much magic he would have to use to get them all the way up. 

It was going to take a lot, he wasn't entirely sure if he had enough in his reserves to manage it all in one go, and his thoughts slipped through his soul and directly into Aisling, who at this point was blinking away the heaviness in her eyes and squinting at his soul as if confused by it. 

She was shocked, unable to move until the full feeling his soul seemed to hit her in one huge wave of warmth and emotions. It was like she was surfacing from a deep pool of water fully clothed, and his soul was the sun and fresh air reminding her she was alive. 

There was a beat of strained silence before she gasped, eyes wide as she comprehended what she was looking at. He didn't dare look at her, afraid of her reaction and more wanting to get them out and then have the awkward talk that he would likely try to dodge. 

She didn't know what came over her. Music that was unequivocally Sans rang in her ears as she looked at his soul, and the more she looked and felt and heard, the more she wanted to reach out and touch, the more she wanted a deeper connection that went beyond just listening to him and passively experiencing his presence. She needed to act. 

Instead of scathing words and accusations, he almost jumped out of his non-existent skin when he felt her fingers reach out and stroke at his soul, feather light. Squeezing her slightly he grunted and went to set her down. She clung to his neck still as her feet touched the ground, and because of this, forced him to bend down to her level. His soul had hidden back inside of his rib cage, but it still shone brightly against the too dark darkness of the Void. Aisling was pressed up against him, like his own personal skin, and one of her hands skittered down his ribs, fingertips dipping inside of his chest cavity, almost brushing against his soul again and he felt weak at the knees, a moan threatening to pop out. 

Before he could even get his voice to work and tell her the plan, she had pulled his face towards hers and kissed him deeply, hungrily, like she would die without him and her fingers reached further into his chest cavity to stroke at his soul. Both of them had gasped into each others mouth, and without much thought at all he had started to pull her closer still, hands grabbing at her hips so hard it would bruise if it went on for much longer. 

She needed to be as close as possible, if she could she might have tried to just crawl inside to curl around his soul, touching it and stroking it gently, bring it to her lips and try to kiss all of what she felt welling up inside of her into the core of his being so he understood all she didn't want to say. 

But then she had shivered, and let out a soft noise and he was instantly snapped back to reality. 

“Aisling... Aisling, Aisling... We gotta get out a here. You can't stay in here any longer.” He said, pulling himself away from her dangerous lips and turning away from her. “Climb up on my back. Quickly.” 

She stared at him dumbfounded, and then seemed to come to her senses at his plea and nodded, climbing up and wincing with sympathy when one of her feet kicked at his hipbone in her haste. 

“Sorry.” She murmured against the side of his skull. 

“Hold on.” He said curtly.

Without anymore warning than that he kicked off, catapulting himself off the floor with his magic, and then landing and immediately kicking off of the wall into the other wall that met at it's corner, propelling them just a bit further upwards each time, until they got close enough to the opening. Once it was close enough they could see the floor of his room on the other side, she held onto him even tighter and buried her face in the crook of his neck and shoulder as he forced as much magic as he could all at once and launched them bodily towards the exit. 

As they soared towards it, Sans realized they wouldn't be able to make it the way they were. Maneuvering in the air as best as he could, he took Aisling by the hand and attempted to throw her towards the opening without him, his magic reserves used up as he tried to push her away from him and out of the Void. As he tried to throw her, her hold on him tightened and she looked back at him and then at the opening, before letting out a wordless roar as both of them glowed with a soft purple light and just as the momentum was losing speed, got an extra boost. Both of them tumbled through and crashed, where Papyrus had met them.

Now they were alone, and Aisling was faced with something that was almost as fear inducing as the entire ordeal in the Void. The consequences of her actions. 

Her mouth was dry, and the warmth of his soul radiating on her back felt burning hot as the blood drained from her face. She was frozen, unable to even flinch away from him as he came around her side and stood in front of her, thumbs tucked into the top of his sweatpants. 

His glowing eye was so sharp, it felt like it cut right though her and she placed one hand over her chest.

“I've got no idea what you could mean.” She tried to start, and turned away from him. 

With a slight crack and the smell of ozone he was stood in front of her again, blocking her path to the hallway. 

“Eeh. Incorrect, darlin', that's not gunna fly wit' me right now. Better luck next time.” He said, voice gravely and low. 

She took a step backwards away from him and he advanced, slowly herding her through his room until the backs of her legs hit the mattress and she felt onto her ass. He loomed over her, and she scooted backwards to try and continue putting space between them, breath catching as he crawled onto the bed and hovered over her still. 

“Ya don't get to touch me like that, kiss me like that an' not talk to me 'bout it afterwards.” He growled.

Nervous laughter bubbled out of her and she turned her face away from him, as if if she closed her eyes hard enough he wouldn't see her. 

He didn't move, still there, very present in her personal space and she knew if she wanted to she could get rid of him but a part of her didn't want that. She wanted him close, and if she was real with herself she liked it. But that didn't mean she knew how to handle it. How to explain the complicated way her emotions worked when it came to a guy she felt like she trusted more than her own family and yet hardly knew at all. 

So she was going to just try and ignore him and calm her heart beat before she tried to speak.

He seemed content to essentially plank over her, bones making soft, hard to describe noises as he settled in and waited. He was patient and he had already caught her. She wasn't going anywhere so he didn't care how long it took to draw this out of her. He needed answers because he didn't relish the idea of being played with like some kind of toy. And if he was being truthful with himself, she wasn't the kind to do that. He didn't know her as much as he knew his bro but he knew her that much at least. Or at least now he did. It wasn't a one sided thing with any soul interaction. That and the taste of her tongue on his spoke volumes, but it seemed both of them had skipped a few steps between meeting and becoming something more. 

The time ticked by as if on stilted legs before she peeked open and glanced at him out of the side of her eye. 

His glowing eye caught her, and she gulped before slowly turning her face towards him again. Might as well do this heads on. She wasn't a coward...usually. 

“I...had a lot of emotions that kind of burst out.” She murmured, and realized that he was so close that her breath nestle between them. 

“Yea?” He asked, prodding at her to continue. 

“I...you make me feel safe.” She blurted out, closing her eyes and grimacing at her blunt and awkward words. “I trust you more than anyone else I can think of.”

He hummed low in his throat and she could feel his body settle on top of hers a bit more, whether it was to feel more of her, or to trap her she couldn't make her mind on, nor could she decided if it was good or bad but she had a clear leaning towards the former. 

“Why.” He asked. 

“I don't know! Don't you think if I did I'd just tell you that? Instead of sounding like a child and just blurting out whatever my brain says regardless of how much sense it makes?” She retorted hotly, her fingers hooking onto his ribs as she shifted around, not sure if she was trying to push him away or bring him closer. 

He grunted and the sharpness of his eye softened but brightened as his fingers on either side of her clenched the bed sheet. 

“Careful there sweetheart. Gunna get me goin' doin' that.” He warned. “Besides I do like it when ya speak yer mind. Makes it pretty clear ya aren't pullin' a fast one on us and just actin' the part of someone worth the time a day.”

She squinted at him, half with annoyance and half with mischief as she tightened her grip on his ribs for a moment and then loosened enough to trail her fingers over them. Okay so she was going with the not pushing him away choice, it seemed. And also losing her mind, because a part of her that made any rational sense was screaming at her to stop and look at what she was doing. But the rest of her? The rest of her was waiting to see what would happen next.

“Besides I could ask you very similar questions, Sans.” She said, drawing out the last sound of his name as she gripped his lower ribs suddenly and he twitched above her. “Why did you do that in the first place? Your soul...and when you kissed me like that? I know why I was so emotionally charged, but you reciprocated rather enthusiastically...” 

A deep seated growl that sounded as if it originated in his chest rather through them both and she let out a soft noise caught between surprise and a moan when he grabbed a handful of her hair in one hand and pulled her into a heated kiss. Teeth biting fleshy lips, hands dragging nails over whatever bones were within reach. 

In between the crushing kisses he explained himself. 

“You weren't lookin' so hot. Shiverin', pale, ya looked like the Void was tryin' to leech any life in you and drain ya till ya were dead.” He stared at her and his look was so intense she was frozen under him, pinned like a butterfly under glass, beautiful. “I dunno if ya gathered or not from what just happened and is happenin' now, but I care a hell of a lot about your wellbein'. Lettin' ya die is the last thing I was willin' to just let happen.” 

She reached up, and cupped his face in her hands, bringing his head down to hers and resting his forehead against hers, eyes closed as she breathed. 

“Thank you...” She murmured.

“It was nothin' doll.” He tried to brush it off, but she wasn't letting him. 

“No. It wasn't nothing. You did something really...exposing and potentially dangerous to yourself, just to keep me going when the Void tried to take me and don't think I didn't realize you were trying to get me out even if it meant you falling all the way back down again.” She said, voice rising slightly as she continued. “I couldn't live with myself if you had managed to do that you know.” 

“Yea, well. Guess it's a good thin' that you consistently blow me outta the water. I didn't think ya would be able to, but it seems like ya can do much more than just type of magic.” He looked down at her slyly. “Also the color of your magic did not escape me.” 

She let out a soft bark of laughter and looked up at him, eyes wide and dilated. Anything he had planned on saying after that was caught in his throat as he looked down at her. She cocked her head to the side softly, and trailed her fingertips over his cheeks, down his neck and over his shoulders before they rested at his elbows.

“Sans...” She said, so quiet he leaned back in towards her again. “Sans, ask me again.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here is some Soul Searching lol have fun im going to go pass out now probably

Sans stared at her, still half from confusion half from shock. Aisling looked at him intently, red dusting her cheeks, lips looking slightly swollen from kissing. But her gaze was steady, and he would have had to have been thick to not know get what she was saying. Music was ringing through the air, two songs coming together growing louder, intertwining until it was impossible to find the beginning or the end of them, until it was a roar to his senses. 

“Wha?” He asked.

His entire being was practically vibrating from the sheer force of willpower he had to utilize to not immediately throw himself headlong into her suggestion.

“I said, ask me again. Ask to see my soul.” She said, letting her hands rub back up until she had them lightly resting on his neck bones.

He still could hardly believe she was serious. He was frozen above her, wanting to both come closer and to disappear suddenly. All of his intent hunting hadn't actually prepared him for her to turn it around. He suddenly felt like he was the prey that had been ambushed. 

A small tug towards herself lead him down to her lips once more, a languid kiss making the spark in his chest flare, and he couldn't find it in himself to care. She didn't stop him from snaking his hands up her shirt, rubbing at the skin at her waist. A soft sigh slipped out of her lips and her hair was mussed about her face like a gentle halo.

“Are ya sure sweetheart?” He couldn't help second guessing himself, even now.

“Ask.” She pressed, dead set on getting him to do what she wanted.

He knew in that moment that she could get him to do anything in the world for her, if she had that intent look on her face when she asked.

“...will you let me see _you_?” He finally asked, staring at her face so he wouldn't look down at her chest. 

“I will let you see all of me.” She answered and his breath caught in his chest, filling him with a warmth as she guided one of his hands to her chest.

The golden light of his soul came forward from behind his ribs as he pressed his fingers against her shirt and concentrated. Her soft gasp was the only noise he heard before the soothing color of deep purple like that of blackberry stains filled his vision. The colors refracted off of each other, filling the room with scattered beams of light that eventually softened and mixed into swirling masses that painted them in the colors of each other. 

“Aisling...” He breathed, reaching out for her soul only to hesitate before he came into contact. 

Her hands reached out and cupped his, bringing them closer until he was holding her very being in the palm of his hands. His face was reverent. A low crooning noise left him when she took his soul into her hands, an exchange as they soaked in each others emotions. 

There was no more confusion, only trust and want, not even want but need, a puzzle piece slotting into place, a feeling of rightness, of absolute knowledge radiated from her soul as she brought his soul to her lips and kissed it. All of her feelings she had been walling up and pushing down out of sight came barreling out and almost overwhelmed him as she poured it into his soul. 

It wasn't love yet but it was everything else that should come first. Attraction for sure, but that was nothing besides the feeling of affection, of trust and want to know him, of wanting to know him best or at least second best next to Papyrus. She thought him brave, she thought him true, she knew that he was right in a way that couldn't be fully comprehended, in only the way the most unadulterated instincts knew.

A wave of affection flooded through him, almost making his spine shiver, and in response he nuzzled her soul, pushing forth everything he wanted to say and had no words for. His want to protect her not because she couldn't but because she didn't have to be entirely on her own, of his want to know her better, of his casual love of all of the small perks of personality, of wanting to fall deeper in love with her if she would allow him the honor. 

He knew monsters fell faster than humans as a whole because of the long history of souls and how familiar they as a race were with them, but he still let himself be utterly bare before her by letting the worry he was rushing this slip into his thoughts and her soul. Her immediate response was an overwhelming feeling of throwing caution to the wind, because she trusted him. So implicitly that he could feel tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. 

She smiled, eyes watering as well as she reached out for him with one hand, pulling his hands towards hers until their souls sat next to each other, a sliver of space between them. Light and music washed over them both, and the final resistance, the very last walls built on either side fell away as the souls bumped into each other, and they clung onto each other, riding out the sensation of knowing someone on such a level. 

Both were blown away by the memories of the other. 

Of resets, of a father who didn't exist and holes in the fabric of reality and time stretching and distorting until you didn't know what you were looking at. Dying but never forever, living for so much longer than makes sense, of repeating the same string of days so many times that it didn't matter anymore, until finally the sun set for the first time and that was also the first new day. 

Of a mother who whispered in a different language and could always touch things outside of sight until she wasn't there anymore, rocks piling on top of a grave in a lonely cemetery, candles lit each shabbos, the ghost of mother hovering over the shoulder watching. Discovering her own connection, hiding in the pocket room too long and father trying to keep her safe from herself. Running away so that she could finally see the night sky on her own and falling down that hole when she made it to Ebott. Golden flowers and desperate magic attracting the attention of...someone lost.

Both panted and clung to each other as their souls settled back in their proper places. 

“...wow...” Aisling sighed, laughing almost half hysterically.

“Ya could say that again doll.” He murmured against her neck as they found themselves laid out, sticky with sweat and exhausted.

“...Sans...?” Her voice was quiet.

“Ya?” He breathed.

“We're going to have to talk about....all of that later aren't we?” She said, more of a statement than what her tone hinted at.

He sighed and waved a hand lazily to have a blanket come up over them, snuggling down and re-arranging until they were both comfortable, limbs sliding into place as if they had done this for years.

“Ya...bu' not right now.“ He said, shushing her gently. “Right now, I want ta hold you an' rest.”

She looked like she was going to argue but then stopped, mouth snapping shut before she nodded. 

“Okay.” She said, laying her head on his chest as she got comfortable. “Later, we talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe one of these days i wont chicken out of smut but today is not one of those days

**Author's Note:**

> Straight shout out to tumblr user Borurou who is the original creator of Gaster!Characters from Undertale and shout out to a Toby Fox himself for the characters.


End file.
